DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/790 OF THE EUR OPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNC IL 
of 17 Apr il 2019 
on copy right and related rights in the Digit al Single Market and amending Directiv es 96/9/EC 
and 2001/29/EC 
(Text with EEA relevance) 
THE EUR OPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUR OPEAN UNION, 
Having rega rd to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 53(1) and Articles 62 
and 114 thereof, 
Having regar d to the proposal from the European Commission, 
After transmission of the draf t legislative act to the national parliaments, 
Having regar d to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committ ee (1), 
Having regar d to the opinion of the Committ ee of the Regions (2), 
Acting in accordance with the ordinar y legislative procedure (3), 
Whereas: 
(1)  The Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for the establishment of an intern al mark et and the institution of 
a system ensur ing that competiti on in the internal market is not distor ted. Further harmonisation of the laws of 
the Member States on copyright and relat ed rights should contr ibut e to the achi evement of those objectives. 
(2)  The directives that have been adopt ed in the area of copyright and relat ed rights contr ibut e to the functioning of 
the internal mark et, provid e for a high level of protection for rightholders, facilitate the clearance of rights, and 
creat e a framew ork in which the exploitation of works and other protect ed subject matte r can take place. That 
harmonised legal framew ork contr ibut es to the proper functioning of the internal market, and stimulates 
inno vation, creativity , investment and production of new conte nt, also in the digital envi ronment, in order to 
avoid the fragmentation of the internal market. The protection provided by that legal framework also contr ibut es 
to the Union's objective of respecting and promoting cultural diversity , while at the same time bringing European 
common cultural heritage to the fore. Article 167(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 
requires the Union to take cultural aspects into account in its action. 
(3)  Rapid technological developments continue to transf orm the way works and other subject matte r are creat ed, 
produced, distr ibuted and exploit ed. New business models and new actors continue to emerge. Relevant 
legislation needs to be future-proof so as not to restr ict technological development. The objectives and the 
principles laid down by the Union copyright framework remain sound. However , legal uncer tainty remains, for 
both rightholders and users, as regards certain uses, including cross-border uses, of works and other subject 
matt er in the digital environment. As stated in the Commission Communication of 9 December 2015 entitled 
‘Towards a moder n, more European copyright framew ork’, in some areas it is necessar y to adapt and supplement 
the existing Union copyright framew ork, while keeping a high level of prote ction of copyright and related 
rights. This Directive provides for rules to adapt certain excep tions and limitations to copyright and relat ed rights 
to digital and cross-border environments, as well as for measures to facilitate certain licensing practices, in particu­
lar, but not only , as regar ds the dissemination of out-of-commerce works and other subject matter and the online 
availability of audio visual works on video-on-demand platf orms, with a view to ensur ing wider access to content. 
It also contains rules to facilitat e the use of conte nt in the public domain. In order to achi eve a well-functioning 
and fair mark etplace for copyright, there should also be rules on rights in publications, on the use of works 17.5.2019 L 130/92 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(1)OJ C 125, 21.4.2017, p. 27. 
(2)OJ C 207, 30.6.2017, p. 80. 
(3)Position of the European Parliament of 26 March 2019 (not yet published in the Official Jour nal) and decision of the Council of 15 Apr il 
2019. or other subject matte r by online service providers stori ng and giving access to user -uploaded content, on the 
transparency of authors' and performers' contracts, on authors' and performers' remuneration, as well as 
a mechanism for the revocati on of rights that authors and perf ormers have transferr ed on an exclusive basis. 
(4)  This Directive is based upon, and compl ements, the rules laid down in the directives currently in force in this 
area, in particular Directives 96/9/EC (4), 2000/31/EC (5), 2001/29/EC (6), 2006/115/EC (7), 2009/24/EC (8), 
2012/28/EU (9) and 2014/26/EU (10) of the European Parliament and of the Council. 
(5)  In the fields of researc h, innovati on, education and preser vation of cultural heritage, digital technologies permit 
new types of uses that are not clearly covered by the existing Union rules on excep tions and limitations. 
In addition, the optional nature of excep tions and limitations provided for in Directives 96/9/EC, 2001/29/EC 
and 2009/24/EC in those fields could nega tively impact the functioning of the internal mark et. This is 
particularly relevant as regar ds cross-border uses, which are becoming increasing ly important in the digital 
environment. Theref ore, the existing excep tions and limitations in Union law that are relevant for scientific 
research , innovation, teac hing and preser vation of cultural heritage should be reassessed in the light of those new 
uses. Mandatory excep tions or limitations for uses of text and data mining technologies, illustration for teaching 
in the digital environment and for preser vation of cultural heritage should be introduced. The existing excep tions 
and limitations in Union law should continue to apply , including to text and data mining, education, and 
preser vation activities, as long as they do not limit the scope of the mandatory excep tions or limitations provided 
for in this Directive, which need to be implemented by Member States in their national law. Directives 96/9/EC 
and 2001/29/EC should, theref ore, be amended. 
(6)  The excep tions and limitations provid ed for in this Directive seek to achi eve a fair balance between the rights and 
inter ests of authors and other rightholders, on the one hand, and of users on the other . They can be applied only 
in certain special cases that do not conf lict with the normal exploitation of the works or other subject matt er 
and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the rightholders. 
(7)  The prote ction of technological measures established in Directive 2001/29/EC remains essential to ensure the 
prot ection and the effective exercise of the rights granted to authors and to other rightholders under Union law. 
Such prot ection should be maintained while ensur ing that the use of technological measures does not prevent the 
enjo yment of the excep tions and limitations provided for in this Directive. Rightholders should have the 
oppor tunity to ensure that through volun tary measures. They should remain free to choose the appropr iate 
means of enabling the beneficiar ies of the excep tions and limitations provided for in this Directive to benefit 
from them. In the absence of voluntar y measures, Member States should take appropr iate measures in accordance 
with the first subparagraph of Article 6(4) of Directive 2001/29/EC, including where works and other subject 
matt er are made available to the public through on-demand services. 
(8)  New technologies enable the automat ed computat ional analysis of information in digital form, such as text, 
sounds, imag es or data, generally known as text and data mining. Text and data mining mak es the processing of 
large amounts of information with a view to gaining new knowle dge and discover ing new trends possible. Text 
and data mining technologies are prevalent across the digital economy; however , there is widespread ackn ow­
ledgment that text and data mining can, in particular , benefit the research community and, in so doing, suppor t 17.5.2019 L 130/93 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(4)Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases (OJ L 77, 
27.3.1996, p. 20). 
(5)Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain lega l aspects of information society 
services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Intern al Mark et (Directive on electronic commerce) (OJ L 178, 17.7.2000, p. 1). 
(6)Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of 
copyright and relate d rights in the information society (OJ L 167, 22.6.2001, p. 10). 
(7)Directive 2006/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on rental right and lending right and on 
certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual proper ty (OJ L 376, 27.12.2006, p. 28). 
(8)Directive 2009/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 Apr il 2009 on the legal prot ection of comput er programs 
(OJ L 111, 5.5.2009, p. 16). 
(9)Directive 2012/28/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on certain permitted uses of orphan works 
(OJ L 299, 27.10.2012, p. 5). 
(10)Directive 2014/26/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 Febr uary 2014 on collective management of copyright and 
relate d rights and multi-terr itorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use in the internal market (OJ L 84, 20.3.2014, p. 72). inno vation. Such technologies benefi t universities and other research organisations, as well as cultural heritage 
institutions since they could also carry out researc h in the cont ext of their main activities. Howe ver, in the Union, 
such organisations and institutions are confronte d with legal uncer tainty as to the exte nt to which they can 
perform text and data mining of cont ent. In certain instances, text and data mining can involve acts prote cted by 
copyright, by the sui generis database right or by both, in particular , the reproduction of works or other subject 
matt er, the extraction of cont ents from a database or both which occur for example when the data are 
normalised in the process of text and data mining. Where no excep tion or limitation applies, an author isation to 
under take such acts is required from rightholders. 
(9)  Text and data mining can also be carried out in relation to mere facts or data that are not protect ed by copyright, 
and in such instances no author isation is required under copyright law. There can also be instances of text and 
data mining that do not involve acts of reproduction or where the reproductions made fall under the mandat ory 
excep tion for temporar y acts of reproduction provid ed for in Article 5(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC, whic h should 
continue to apply to text and data mining techniques that do not involve the making of copies beyond the scope 
of that excep tion. 
(10)  Union law provides for certain excep tions and limitations cover ing uses for scientific research purposes which 
may apply to acts of text and data mining. However , those excep tions and limitations are optional and not fully 
adap ted to the use of technologies in scientific researc h. Moreover , where researche rs have lawful access to 
cont ent, for exam ple through subscr iptions to publications or open access licences, the term s of the licences 
could excl ude text and data mining. As research is increasing ly carried out with the assistance of digital 
technology , there is a risk that the Union's competiti ve position as a research area will suffer , unless steps are 
take n to address the legal uncer tainty concer ning text and data mining. 
(11)  The legal uncer tainty concer ning text and data mining should be addressed by provid ing for a mandat ory 
excep tion for universities and other research organisations, as well as for cultural heritage institutions, to the 
excl usive right of reproduction and to the right to prevent extraction from a database. In line with the existing 
Union research policy , which encourages universities and research institutes to collaborate with the private sector , 
research orga nisations should also benefit from such an excep tion when their research activities are carried out in 
the framewor k of public-pr ivate partnerships. While research organisations and cultural heritage institutions 
should continue to be the beneficiar ies of that excep tion, they should also be able to rely on their private 
partners for carrying out text and data mining, including by using their technological tools. 
(12)  Research organisations across the Union encom pass a wide variety of entities the primar y goal of which is to 
conduct scientific researc h or to do so together with the provis ion of educational services. The term ‘scientific 
research ’ within the meaning of this Directive should be underst ood to cover both the natural sciences and the 
human sciences. Due to the diversity of such entities, it is important to have a common understanding of 
research organisations. They should for exam ple cover, in addition to universities or other higher education 
institutions and their librar ies, also entities such as research institutes and hospitals that carry out research . 
Despit e differ ent lega l forms and structures, research organisations in the Member States generally have in 
common that they act either on a not-f or-profi t basis or in the cont ext of a public-int erest mission recognised by 
the State. Such a public-inte rest mission could, for example, be reflected through public funding or through 
provis ions in national laws or public contracts. Conversely , organisations upon which commercial under takings 
have a decisive influence allowing such under takings to exercise control because of structural situations, such as 
through their quality of shareholder or member , which could result in prefe rential access to the results of the 
research , should not be considered researc h organisations for the purposes of this Directive. 
(13)  Cultural heritage institutions should be underst ood as covering publicly accessible librar ies and museums 
regar dless of the type of works or other subject matter that they hold in their permanent collections, as well as 
arch ives, film or audio heritage institutions. They should also be underst ood to include, inter alia, national 
librar ies and national archives, and, as far as their archiv es and publicly accessible librar ies are concer ned, 
educational establishments, research organisations and public sector broadcasting orga nisations. 17.5.2019 L 130/94 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     (14)  Research organisati ons and cultural heritage institutions, including the persons attached thereto, should be 
covered by the text and data mining exce ption with regard to cont ent to whic h they have lawful access. Lawful 
access should be underst ood as covering access to cont ent based on an open access policy or through contractual 
arrang ements between rightholders and research orga nisations or cultural heritage institutions, such as 
subscr iptions, or through other lawful means. For instance, in the case of subscr iptions taken by researc h organ­
isations or cultural heritage institutions, the persons attached thereto and covered by those subscr iptions should 
be deemed to have lawful access. Lawful access should also cover access to cont ent that is freely available online. 
(15)  Research organisations and cultural heritage institutions could in certain cases, for exam ple for subsequent 
verification of scientific researc h results, need to retain copies made under the excep tion for the purposes of 
carrying out text and data mining. In such cases, the copies should be store d in a secure environment. Member 
States should be free to decide, at national level and after discussions with relevant stak eholders, on further 
specific arrang ements for retaining the copies, including the ability to appoint trusted bodies for the purpose of 
storing such copies. In order not to unduly restr ict the application of the excep tion, such arrange ments should be 
propor tionate and limite d to what is needed for retaining the copies in a safe manner and preventing 
unauthor ised use. Uses for the purpose of scientifi c research, other than text and data mining, such as scientific 
peer review and joint research, should remain covered, where applicable, by the excep tion or limitation provid ed 
for in Article 5(3)(a) of Directive 2001/29/EC. 
(16)  In view of a poten tially high number of access requests to, and down loads of, their works or other subject matter , 
rightholders should be allowe d to apply measures when there is a risk that the secur ity and integrit y of their 
system s or databases could be jeopardised. Such measures could, for example, be used to ensure that only 
persons having lawful access to their data can access them, including through IP address validation or user 
authentication. Those measures should remain propor tionate to the risks involved, and should not excee d what is 
necessar y to pursue the objective of ensur ing the secur ity and integr ity of the system and should not under mine 
the effective application of the excep tion. 
(17)  In view of the nature and scope of the excep tion, which is limite d to entities carrying out scientific research , any 
poten tial harm creat ed to rightholders through this excep tion would be minimal. Member States should, 
theref ore, not provide for compen sation for rightholders as regar ds uses under the text and data mining 
excep tions introduced by this Directive. 
(18)  In addition to their signif icance in the cont ext of scientific research , text and data mining techniques are widely 
used both by private and public entities to analyse large amounts of data in differ ent areas of life and for various 
purposes, including for government services, compl ex business decisions and the development of new 
applications or technologies. Rightholders should remain able to license the uses of their works or other subject 
matt er falling outside the scope of the mandat ory exce ption provided for in this Directive for text and data 
mining for the purposes of scientific research and of the existing excep tions and limitations provi ded for in 
Directive 2001/29/EC. At the same time, consideration should be given to the fact that users of text and data 
mining could be faced with legal uncer tainty as to whether reproductions and extractions made for the purposes 
of text and data mining can be carried out on lawfully accessed works or other subject matter , in particular when 
the reproductions or extractions made for the purposes of the technical process do not fulfil all the conditions of 
the existing excep tion for temporar y acts of reproduction provi ded for in Article 5(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC. 
In order to provi de for more lega l certainty in such cases and to encourag e innovation also in the private sector, 
this Directive should provid e, under certain conditions, for an excep tion or limitation for reproductions and 
extractions of works or other subject matt er, for the purposes of text and data mining, and allow the copies 
made to be retained for as long as is necessar y for those text and data mining purposes. 
This excep tion or limitation should only apply where the work or other subject matte r is accessed lawfully by the 
beneficiar y, including when it has been made available to the public online, and insof ar as the rightholders have 
not reser ved in an appropr iate manner the rights to make reproductions and extractions for text and data 
mining. In the case of content that has been made publicly available online, it should only be considered 17.5.2019 L 130/95 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     appropr iate to reser ve those rights by the use of machi ne-readable means, including metadata and terms and 
conditions of a website or a service. Other uses should not be affected by the reser vation of rights for the 
purposes of text and data mining. In other cases, it can be appropr iate to reser ve the rights by other means, such 
as contractual agreements or a unilateral declaration. Rightholders should be able to apply measures to ensure 
that their reser vations in this regar d are respecte d. This exce ption or limitation should leav e intact the mandat ory 
excep tion for text and data mining for scientific researc h purposes provi ded for in this Directive, as well as the 
existing excep tion for temporar y acts of reproduction provided for in Article 5(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC. 
(19)  Article 5(3)(a) of Directive 2001/29/EC allows Member States to introduce an excep tion or limitation to the 
rights of reproduction, communication to the public and making available to the public of works or other subject 
matt er in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and a time individually chosen 
by them, for the sole purpose of illustration for teaching. In addition, Articles 6(2)(b) and 9(b) of Directive 
96/9/EC permit the use of a database and the extraction of a substantial part of its conte nts for the purpose of 
illustration for teaching. The scope of those excep tions or limitations as they apply to digital uses is unclear . In 
addition, there is a lack of clarity as to whether those excep tions or limitations would apply where teac hing is 
provid ed online and at a distance. Moreover , the existing legal framework does not provid e for a cross-border 
effect. This situation could hampe r the development of digitally suppor ted teac hing activities and distance 
learning. Theref ore, the introduction of a new mandatory excep tion or limitation is necessar y to ensure that 
educational establishments benefit from full legal certainty when using works or other subject matte r in digital 
teac hing activities, including online and across borders. 
(20)  While distance learning and cross-border education programmes are mostly developed at higher education level, 
digital tools and resources are increasing ly used at all education levels, in particular to impro ve and enrich the 
learning exper ience. The excep tion or limitation provided for in this Directive should, theref ore, benefi t all 
educational establishments recognised by a Member State , including those involved in primar y, secondar y, 
vocational and higher education. It should apply only to the extent that the uses are justif ied by the 
non-commercial purpose of the particular teac hing activity . The organisational structure and the means of 
funding of an educational establishment should not be the decisive factors in determining whether the activity is 
non-commercial in nature. 
(21)  The excep tion or limitation provid ed for in this Directive for the sole purpose of illustration for teac hing should 
be understood as cover ing digital uses of works or other subject matt er to suppor t, enrich or compl ement the 
teac hing, including learning activities. The distr ibution of software allowed under that excep tion or limitation 
should be limited to digital transmission of software. In most cases, the concept of illustration would, theref ore, 
imply the use only of parts or extracts of works, which should not substitute for the purchas e of mat erials 
primar ily intended for the educational mark et. When implementing the excep tion or limitation, Member States 
should remain free to specify , for the different types of works or other subject matter , in a balanced manner , the 
propor tion of a work or other subject matter that can be used for the sole purpose of illustration for teaching. 
Uses allowed under the exce ption or limitation should be understood to cover the specif ic accessibility needs of 
persons with a disability in the context of illustration for teaching. 
(22)  The use of works or other subject matter under the excep tion or limitation for the sole purpose of illustration for 
teac hing provid ed for in this Directive should only take place in the context of teac hing and learning activities 
carried out under the responsibility of educational establishments, including during examinations or teaching 
activities that take place outside the premises of educational establishments, for example in a museum, librar y or 
another cultural heritage institution, and should be limited to what is necessar y for the purpose of such 
activities. The excep tion or limitation should cover both uses of works or other subject matte r made in the 
classroom or in other venues through digital means, for exam ple electronic whit eboards or digital devices whic h 
might be connect ed to the internet, as well as uses made at a distance through secure electronic envi ronments, 
such as in the context of online courses or access to teaching mat erial complementing a given course. Secure 
electronic environments should be underst ood as digital teaching and learning environments access to which is 
limited to an educational establishment's teac hing staff and to pupils or students enrolled in a study programme, 
in particular through appropr iate authentication procedures including password-based authentication. 17.5.2019 L 130/96 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     (23)  Different arrange ments, based on the implementation of the excep tion or limitation provid ed for in Directive 
2001/29/EC or on licensing agreements cover ing further uses, are in place in a number of Member States in 
order to facilitat e educational uses of works and other subject matt er. Such arrang ements have usually been 
developed taking account of the needs of educational establishments and of diffe rent levels of education. While it 
is essential to harmonise the scope of the new mandatory excep tion or limitation in relation to digital uses 
and cross-border teaching activities, the arrange ments for implementation can vary from one Member State 
to another , to the extent that they do not hamper the effective application of the excep tion or limitation or 
cross-border uses. Member States should, for example, remain free to require that the use of works or other 
subject matter respect the moral rights of authors and performers. This should allow Member State s to build on 
the existing arrang ements concluded at national level. In particular , Member States could decide to subject the 
application of the excep tion or limitation, fully or partially , to the availability of suitable licences, covering at 
least the same uses as those allowed under the excep tion or limitation. Member States should ensure that where 
licences cover only partially the uses allowe d under the excep tion or limitation, all the other uses remain subject 
to the excep tion or limitation. 
Member States could, for example, use this mech anism to give precedence to licences for mat erial that is 
primar ily intended for the educational market or licences for sheet music. In order to avoid that subjecting the 
application of the excep tion to the availability of licences results in legal uncer tainty or an administrative burden 
for educational establishments, Member States adoptin g such an approach should take concrete measures to 
ensure that licensing sche mes allowing digital uses of works or other subject matt er for the purpose of 
illustration for teac hing are easily available, and that educational establishments are aware of the existen ce of such 
licensing schem es. Such licensing schemes should meet the needs of educational establishments. Information 
tools aimed at ensur ing that existing licensing sche mes are visible could also be developed. Such schemes could, 
for exam ple, be based on collective licensing or on extended collective licensing, in order to avoid educational 
establishments having to negotiate individually with rightholders. In order to guarantee legal certainty , Member 
States should specify under whic h conditions an educational establishment can use prote cted works or other 
subject matter under that excep tion and, conversely , when it should act under a licensing scheme. 
(24)  Member States should remain free to provide that rightholders receive fair compensation for the digital uses of 
their works or other subject matt er under the excep tion or limitation provi ded for in this Directive for 
illustration for teaching. In setting the level of fair compensation, due account should be take n, inter alia, of 
Member State s' educational objectives and of the harm to rightholders. Member States that decide to provid e for 
fair compen sation should encourage the use of systems that do not creat e an administrative burden for 
educational establishments. 
(25)  Cultural heritage institutions are enga ged in the preser vation of their collections for future generations. An act of 
preser vation of a work or other subject matter in the collection of a cultural heritage institution might require 
a reproduction and consequently require the author isation of the relevant rightholders. Digital technologies offer 
new ways of preser ving the heritage contained in those collections but they also creat e new challeng es. In view of 
those new challenges, it is necessar y to adapt the existing legal framew ork by provi ding for a mandatory 
excep tion to the right of reproduction in order to allow such acts of preser vation by such institutions. 
(26)  The existe nce of diffe rent approach es in the Member States with rega rd to acts of reproduction for preser vation 
by cultural heritage institutions hamp ers cross-border cooperation, the shar ing of means of preser vation and the 
establishment of cross-border preser vation netw orks in the internal mark et by such institutions, leading to an 
inefficient use of resources. That can have a negative impact on the preser vation of cultural heritage. 
(27)  Member States should, theref ore, be required to provide for an excep tion to permit cultural heritage institutions 
to reproduce works and other subject matter permanently in their collections for preser vation purposes, for 
examp le to address technological obsolescence or the degradation of original suppor ts or to insure such works 
and other subject matter . Such an excep tion should allow the making of copies by the appropr iate preser vation 
tool, means or technology , in any format or medium, in the required number , at any point in the life of a work 
or other subject matte r and to the extent required for preser vation purposes. Acts of reproduction under taken by 17.5.2019 L 130/97 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     cultural heritage institutions for purposes other than the preser vation of works and other subject matter in their 
permanent collections should remain subject to the author isation of rightholders, unless permitted by other 
excep tions or limitations provid ed for in Union law. 
(28)  Cultural heritage institutions do not necessar ily have the technical means or exper tise to under take the acts 
required to preser ve their collections themselves, particularly in the digital environment, and might, theref ore, 
have recourse to the assistance of other cultural institutions and other third parties for that purpose. Under the 
excep tion for preser vation purposes provid ed for by this Directive, cultural heritage institutions should be 
allowed to rely on third parties acting on their behalf and under their responsibility , including those that are 
based in other Member States, for the making of copies. 
(29)  For the purposes of this Directive, works and other subject matter should be considered to be permanently in the 
collection of a cultural heritage institution when copies of such works or other subject matte r are owned or 
permanently held by that institution, for example as a result of a transfe r of ownership or a licence agreement, 
legal deposit oblig ations or permanent custody arrange ments. 
(30)  Cultural heritage institutions should benefi t from a clear framework for the digitisation and dissemination, 
including across borders, of works or other subject matter that are considered to be out of commerce for the 
purposes of this Directive. However , the particular charact eristics of the collections of out-of-commerce works or 
other subject matte r, together with the amount of works and other subject matt er involved in mass digitisation 
projects, mean that obtaining the prior author isation of the individual rightholders can be very difficult. This can 
be due, for example, to the age of the works or other subject matt er, their limited commercial value or the fact 
that they were never intended for commercial use or that they have never been exploited commercially . It is 
theref ore necessar y to provi de for measures to facilitate certain uses of out-of-commerce works or other subject 
matt er that are permanently in the collections of cultural heritage institutions. 
(31)  All Member States should have legal mechanisms in place allowing licences issued by relevant and suffi ciently 
representative collective manage ment organisations to cultural heritage institutions, for certain uses of out-of- 
commerce works or other subject matter , to also apply to the rights of rightholders that have not mandat ed a 
representative collective management organisation in that regard. It should be possible, pursuant to this Directive, 
for such licences to cover all Member States. 
(32)  The provi sions on collective licensing of out-of-commerce works or other subject matt er introduced by this 
Directive might not provid e a solution for all cases in which cultural heritage institutions encounte r difficulties in 
obtaining all the necessar y author isations from rightholders for the use of such out-of-commerce works or other 
subject matter . That could be the case for example, where there is no practice of collective manag ement of rights 
for a certain type of work or other subject matt er or where the relevant collective manage ment orga nisation is 
not sufficiently representative for the catego ry of the rightholders and of the rights concer ned. In such particular 
instances, it should be possible for cultural heritage institutions to make out-of-commerce works or other subject 
matt er that are permanently in their collection available online in all Member States under a harmonised 
excep tion or limitation to copyright and related rights. It is impor tant that uses under such excep tion or 
limitation only take place when certain conditions, in particular as regar ds the availability of licensing solutions, 
are fulfilled. A lack of agreement on the conditions of the licence should not be interpr eted as a lack of 
availability of licensing solutions. 
(33)  Member States should, within the framew ork provid ed for in this Directive, have flexibility in choosing the 
specific type of licensing mechani sm, such as extended collective licensing or presump tions of representation, 
that they put in place for the use of out-of-commerce works or other subject matt er by cultural heritage 
institutions, in accordance with their legal traditions, practices or circumstances. Member States should also have 
flexibility in deter mining what the requirements for collective management organisations to be sufficiently rep­
resentative are, as long as that deter mination is based on a signif icant number of rightholders in the relevant type 
of works or other subject matter having given a mandate allowing the licensing of the relevant type of use. 17.5.2019 L 130/98 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     Member State s should be free to establish specif ic rules applicable to cases in which more than one collective 
manag ement organisation is representative for the relevant works or other subject matte r, requir ing for example 
joint licences or an agreement between the relevant organisations. 
(34)  For the purpose of those licensing mech anisms, a rigorous and well-functioning collective manag ement system is 
important. Directive 2014/26/EU provid es for such a system and that system includes in particular rules on good 
governance, transparency and repor ting, as well as the regular , dilig ent and accurat e distr ibution and payment of 
amounts due to individual rightholders. 
(35)  Appropr iate safeg uards should be available for all rightholders, who should be given the oppor tunity of excl uding 
the application of the licensing mech anisms and of the excep tion or limitation, introduced by this Directive for 
the use of out-of-commerce works or other subject matte r, in relation to all their works or other subject matter , 
in relation to all licences or all uses under the excep tion or limitation, in relation to particular works or other 
subject matter , or in relation to particular licences or uses under the excep tion or limitation, at any time before 
or during the term of the licence or before or during the use under the excep tion or limitation. Conditions 
governing those licensing mechanisms should not affect their practical relevance for cultural heritage 
institutions. It is impor tant that, where a rightholder excl udes the application of such mechanisms or of such 
excep tion or limitation to one or more works or other subject matter , any ongoing uses are term inated within 
a reasonable period, and, where they take place under a collective licence, that the collective management 
organisation once informed ceases to issue licences cover ing the uses concer ned. Such excl usion by rightholders 
should not affect their claims to remuneration for the actual use of the work or other subject matt er under the 
licence. 
(36)  This Directive does not affect the ability of Member State s to decide who is to have legal responsibility as regar ds 
the compliance of the licensing of out-of-commerce works or other subject matter , and of their use, with the 
conditions set out in this Directive, and as regards the compl iance of the parties concer ned with the term s of 
those licences. 
(37)  Consider ing the variety of works and other subject matte r in the collections of cultural heritage institutions, it is 
important that the licensing mechanisms and the excep tion or limitation provided for by this Directive are 
available and can be used in practice for differ ent types of works and other subject matt er, including 
photog raphs, software, phonograms, audio visual works and unique works of art, including where they have 
never been commercially available. Never -in-commerce works can include posters, leaflets, trench jour nals or 
amat eur audiovisual works, but also unpublished works or other subject matte r, without prejudice to other 
applicable legal constraints, such as national rules on moral rights. When a work or other subject matt er is 
available in any of its diffe rent versions, such as subsequent editions of literary works and altern ate cuts of 
cinemat ographic works, or in any of its differ ent manifestat ions, such as digital and printed formats of the same 
work, that work or other subject matter should not be considered out of commerce. Conv ersely , the commercial 
availability of adap tations, including other language versions or audiovisual adaptations of a literar y work, should 
not preclude a work or other subject matt er from being deemed to be out of commerce in a given languag e. In 
order to reflect the specifi cities of differ ent types of works and other subject matt er as regards modes of 
publication and distr ibution, and to facilitat e the usability of those mech anisms, specific requirements and 
procedures might have to be established for the practical application of those licensing mechanisms, such as 
a requirement for a certain time period to have elapsed since the work or other subject matte r was first 
commercially available. It is appropr iate that Member States consult rightholders, cultural heritage institutions 
and collective manage ment organisations when establishing such requirements and procedures. 
(38)  When deter mining whether works or other subject matte r are out of commerce, a reasonable effort should be 
required to assess their availability to the public in the customary channels of commerce, taking into account the 
charact eristics of the particular work or other subject matt er or of the particular set of works or other subject 
matt er. Member States should be free to determine the allocation of responsibilities for making that reasonable 
effort. The reasonable effort should not have to involve repeated action over time but it should never theless 
involve taking account of any easily accessible evidence of upcoming availability of works or other subject matte r 
in the custom ary channels of commerce. A work-by-work assessment should only be required where that is 
considered reasonable in view of the availabi lity of relevant information, the likelihood of commercial availability 17.5.2019 L 130/99 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     and the expect ed transaction cost. Verification of availability of a work or other subject matt er should normally 
take place in the Member State where the cultural heritage institution is established, unless verification across 
borders is considered reasonable, for example in cases where there is easily available information that a literary 
work was first published in a given languag e version in another Member State. In man y cases, the out-of- 
commerce status of a set of works or other subject matt er could be determined through a propor tionate 
mech anism, such as sampling. The limited availability of a work or other subject matter , such as its availability in 
second-hand shops, or the theoretical possibility that a licence for a work or other subject matt er could be 
obtained should not be considered as availability to the public in the customary channels of commerce. 
(39)  For reasons of international comity , the licensing mech anism and the excep tion or limitation provided for in this 
Directive for the digitisation and dissemination of out-of-commerce works or other subject matter should not 
apply to sets of out-of-commerce works or other subject matte r where there is evidence available to presume that 
they predominantly consist of works or other subject matt er of third countr ies, unless the collective manag ement 
organisation concer ned is suffi ciently representative for that third countr y, for exam ple via a representation 
agreement. That assessment could be based on the evidence available followi ng the making of the reasonable 
effort to deter mine whether the works or other subject matter are out of commerce, without the need to searc h 
for further evidence. A work-by-wor k assessment of the origin of out-of-commerce works or other subject matt er 
should only be required insof ar as it is also required for making the reasonable effort to determine whether they 
are commercially available. 
(40)  Contracting cultural heritage institutions and collective manag ement organisations should remain free to agree on 
the territorial scope of licences, including the option of covering all Member States, the licence fee and the uses 
allowed. Uses covered by such licences should not be for profit-making purposes, including where copies are 
distr ibut ed by the cultural heritage institution, such as in the case of promotional mater ial about an exhibition. 
At the same time, given that the digitisation of the collections of cultural heritage institutions can entail 
significant investments, any licences grant ed under the mec hanism provided for in this Directive should not 
prevent cultural heritage institutions from covering the costs of the licence and the costs of digitising and 
disseminating the works or other subject matte r covered by the licence. 
(41)  Information regarding the ongoing and future use of out-of-commerce works and other subject matt er by cultural 
heritage institutions on the basis of this Directive and the arrange ments in place for all rightholders to exclude 
the application of licences or of the excep tion or limitation to their works or other subject matt er should be 
adequate ly publicised both before and during the use under a licence or under the excep tion or limitation, as 
appropr iate. Such publicising is particularly important when uses take place across borders in the internal 
mark et. It is theref ore appropr iate to provid e for the creation of a sing le publicly accessible online portal for the 
Union in order to make such information available to the public for a reasonable period of time before the use 
take s place. Such portal should make it easier for rightholders to excl ude the application of licences or of the 
excep tion or limitation to their works or other subject matte r. Under Regulation (EU) No 386/2012 of the 
European Parliament and of the Council (11), the European Union Intellectual Proper ty Office is entr uste d with 
certain tasks and activities, financed by making use of its own budgetary means and aimed at facilitating and 
suppor ting the activities of national author ities, the private sector and Union institutions in the fight against, 
including the prevention of, infringe ment of intellectual proper ty rights. It is theref ore appropr iate to rely on that 
Offi ce to establish and manage the portal making such information available. 
In addition to making the information available through the portal, further appropr iate publicity measures might 
need to be taken on a case-b y-case basis in order to increase the awareness in that regar d of the rightholders 
concer ned, for exam ple through the use of additional channels of communication to reach a wider public. The 
necessity , the nature and the geographic scope of the additional publicity measures should depend on the charac ­
teristics of the relevant out-of-commerce works or other subject matt er, the term s of the licences or the type of 
use under the excep tion or limitation, and the existing practices in Member States. Publicity measures should be 
effective without the need to inform each rightholder individually . 17.5.2019 L 130/100 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(11)Regulation (EU) No 386/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 Apr il 2012 on entr usting the Offi ce for 
Harmonization in the Intern al Market (Trade Marks and Designs) with tasks related to the enforcement of intellectual proper ty rights, 
including the assembling of public and private- sector representatives as a European Obser vatory on Infringem ents of Intellectual 
Proper ty Rights (OJ L 129, 16.5.2012, p. 1). (42)  In order to ensure that the licensing mecha nisms established by this Directive for out-of-commerce works or 
other subject matter are relevant and function properly , that rightholders are adequately prot ected, that licences 
are properly publicised and that legal certainty is provid ed with rega rd to the representativeness of collective 
manag ement organisations and the categor isation of works, Member States should foster sector -specifi c 
stak eholder dialogue. 
(43)  The measures provided for in this Directive to facilitate the collective licensing of rights in out-of-commerce 
works or other subject matter that are permanently in the collections of cultural heritage institutions should 
be without prejudice to the use of such works or other subject matt er under excep tions or limitations provid ed 
for in Union law, or under other licences with an extended effect, where such licensing is not based on the 
out-of-commerce status of the covered works or other subject matt er. Those measures should also be without 
prejudice to national mechanis ms for the use of out-of-commerce works or other subject matte r based on 
licences between collective manage ment organisations and users other than cultural heritage institutions. 
(44)  Mechani sms of collective licensing with an extended effect allow a collective management organisation to offer 
licences as a collective licensing body on behalf of rightholders, irrespective of whether they have author ised the 
organisation to do so. Syste ms built on mech anisms such as exte nded collective licensing, legal mandat es or 
presump tions of representation, are a well-established practice in several Member States and can be used in 
diffe rent areas. A functioning copyright framew ork that works for all parties requires the availability of propor ­
tionate , lega l mec hanisms for the licensing of works or other subject matter . Member States should, theref ore, be 
able to rely on solutions allowing collective management orga nisations to offer licences cover ing a potentially 
large number of works or other subject matte r for certain types of use, and to distr ibut e the revenue resulting 
from such licences to rightholders, in accordance with Directive 2014/26/EU. 
(45)  Given the nature of some uses, together with the usually large amount of works or other subject matt er involved, 
the transaction cost of individual rights clearance with ever y rightholder concer ned is prohibitively high. As 
a result, it is unlikely that, without effective collective licensing mec hanisms, all the transactions in the areas 
concer ned that are required to enable the use of such works or other subject matt er would take place. Extended 
collective licensing by collective management organisations and similar mechanisms can make it possible to 
conclude agreements in those areas where collective licensing based on an author isation by rightholders does not 
provid e an exhaustive solution for covering all works or other subject matt er to be used. Such mechani sms 
compl ement collective management of rights based on individual author isation by rightholders, by provid ing full 
legal certainty to users in certain cases. At the same time, they provide an oppor tunity to rightholders to benefit 
from the legitimate use of their works. 
(46)  Given the increasing importance of the ability to offer flexible licensing schemes in the digital age, and the 
increasing use of such schemes, Member State s should be able to provide for licensing mechanisms which permit 
collective manage ment organisations to conclude licences, on a voluntary basis, irrespective of whether all 
rightholders have author ised the organisation concer ned to do so. Member States should have the ability to 
maintain and introduce such mechani sms in accordance with their national traditions, practices or circumstances, 
subject to the safeguards provid ed for in this Directive and in compliance with Union law and the internatio nal 
oblig ations of the Union. Such mechanis ms should only have effect in the territory of the Member State 
concer ned, unless other wise provid ed for in Union law. Member States should have flexibility in choosing the 
specific type of mech anism allowing licences for works or other subject matter to extend to the rights of 
rightholders that have not author ised the orga nisation that concludes the agreement, provid ed that such 
mech anism is in compl iance with Union law, including with the rules on collective manage ment of rights 
provid ed for in Directive 2014/26/EU. In particular , such mecha nisms should also ensure that Article 7 of 
Directive 2014/26/EU applies to rightholders that are not members of the organisation that concludes the 
agreement. Such mech anisms could include extended collective licensing, legal mandates and presump tions of 
representation. The provis ions of this Directive concer ning collective licensing should not affect the existing 
ability of Member State s to apply mandatory collective management of rights or other collective licensing 
mech anisms with an extended effect, such as that included in Article 3 of Council Directive 93/83/EEC (12). 17.5.2019 L 130/101 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(12)Council Directive 93/83/EEC of 27 September 1993 on the coordination of certain rules concer ning copyright and rights relate d to 
copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission (OJ L 248, 6.10.1993, p. 15). (47)  It is important that mech anisms of collective licensing with an extended effect are only applied in well-defined 
areas of use, in which obtaining author isation from rightholders on an individual basis is typically onerous and 
impractical to a degree that makes the required licensing transaction, namely one involving a licence that covers 
all rightholders concer ned, unlikely to occur due to the nature of the use or of the types of works or other 
subject matte r concer ned. Such mechanis ms should be based on objective, transparent and non-discr iminato ry 
criteria as regar ds the treatment of rightholders, including rightholders who are not members of the collective 
manag ement organisation. In particular , the mere fact that the rightholders affect ed are not nationals or residents 
of, or established in, the Member State of the user who is seeking a licence, should not be in itself a reason to 
consider the clearance of rights to be so onerous and impractical as to justify the use of such mechanisms. It is 
equally impor tant that the licensed use neither affect adversely the economic value of the relevant rights nor 
depr ive rightholders of signif icant commercial benefits. 
(48)  Member State s should ensure that appropr iate safeg uards are in place to protect the legitimate inter ests of 
rightholders that have not mandat ed the organisation offer ing the licence and that those safeg uards apply in 
a non-discr iminato ry manner . Specific ally, in order to justify the extended effect of the mech anisms, such an 
organisation should be, on the basis of author isations from rightholders, suffi ciently representative of the types of 
works or other subject matte r and of the rights which are the subject of the licence. Member States should 
determine the requirements to be satisfied for those organisati ons to be considered suffi ciently representative, 
taking into account the categor y of rights manag ed by the organisation, the ability of the organisation to manage 
the rights effectively , the creative sector in which it operat es, and whether the organisation covers a significant 
number of rightholders in the relevant type of works or other subject matt er who have given a mandate allowin g 
the licensing of the relevant type of use, in accordance with Directive 2014/26/EU. To provide legal certainty and 
ensure that there is confidence in the mechanisms, Member States should be allowed to decide who is to have 
legal responsibility as regards uses author ised by the licence agreement. Equal treatment should be guarant eed to 
all rightholders whose works are exploited under the licence, including in particular as regar ds access to 
information on the licensing and the distr ibution of remuneration. Publicity measures should be effective 
throughout the duration of the licence and should not involve impos ing a dispropor tionat e administrative burden 
on users, collective manage ment orga nisations or rightholders, and without the need to inform each rightholder 
individually . 
In order to ensure that rightholders can easily regain control of their works, and prevent any uses of their works 
that would be prejudicial to their inter ests, it is essential that rightholders be given an effective oppor tunity to 
excl ude the application of such mec hanisms to their works or other subject matt er for all uses and works or 
other subject matter , or for specific uses and works or other subject matter , including before the conclusion of 
a licence and during the term of the licence. In such cases, any ongoing use should be term inated within 
a reasonable period. Such excl usion by rightholders should not affect their claims for remuneration for the actual 
use of the work or other subject matte r under the licence. Member States should also be able to decide that 
additional measures are appropr iate to prote ct rightholders. Such additional measures could include, for example, 
encouraging the exchange of information among collective manage ment organisations and other interest ed 
parties across the Union to raise awareness about such mech anisms and the option available to rightholders to 
excl ude their works or other subject matt er from those mech anisms. 
(49)  Member States should ensure that the purpose and scope of any licence granted as a result of mech anisms of 
collective licensing with an exte nded effect, as well as the possible uses, should alwa ys be carefully and clearly 
defined in law or, if the underlying law is a general provision, in the licensing practices applied as a result of such 
general provi sions, or in the licences grant ed. The ability to operate a licence under such mecha nisms should also 
be limited to collective manag ement organisations that are subject to national law implementing Directive 
2014/26/EU. 
(50)  Given the differ ent traditions and exper iences in relation to mechanisms of collective licensing with an exte nded 
effect across Member States, and their applicability to rightholders irrespective of their nationality or their 
Member State of residence, it is impor tant to ensure that there is transparency and dialogue at Union level about 
the practical functioning of such mecha nisms, including as regar ds the effectiveness of safeg uards for 
rightholders, the usability of such mechani sms, their effect on rightholders who are not members of the collective 
manag ement organisation, or on rightholders who are nationals of, or resident in, another Member State, and the 17.5.2019 L 130/102 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     impact on the cross-border provision of services, including the potential need to lay down rules to give such 
mech anisms cross-border effect within the internal market. To ensure transparency , information about the use of 
such mech anisms under this Directive should be regularly published by the Commission. Member States that 
have introduced such mechanisms should, theref ore, inform the Commission about relevant national provisions 
and their application in practice, including the scope and types of licensing introduced on the basis of general 
provis ions, the scale of licensing and the collective management organisations involved. Such information should 
be discussed with Member States in the contact committee established in Article 12(3) of Directive 2001/29/EC. 
The Commission should publish a repor t on the use of such mecha nisms in the Union and their impact on 
licensing and rightholders, on the dissemination of cultural content and on the cross-border provision of services 
in the area of collective management of copyright and relat ed rights, as well as on the impact on competition. 
(51)  Video-on-demand services have the poten tial to play a decisive role in the dissemination of audiovi sual works 
across the Union. Howe ver, the availability of such works, in particular European works, on video-on-demand 
services remains limited. Agreements on the online exploitation of such works can be difficult to conclude due to 
issues relat ed to the licensing of rights. Such issues could, for instance, arise when the holder of the rights for 
a given territory has a low economic incentive to exploit a work online and does not license or holds back the 
online rights, which can lead to audio visual works being unavai lable on video-on-demand services. Other issues 
could relat e to windows of exploitation. 
(52)  To facilitat e the licensing of rights in audiovisual works to video-on-demand services, Member States should be 
required to provi de for a negotiation mec hanism allowing parties willing to conclude an agreement to rely on the 
assistance of an impartial body or of one or more mediat ors. For that purpose, Member States should be allowed 
either to establish a new body or rely on an existing one that fulfils the conditions established by this Directive. 
Member State s should be able to designate one or more compet ent bodies or mediator s. The body or the 
mediat ors should meet with the parties and help with the negotiations by provid ing professional, impar tial and 
exte rnal advice. Where a negotiation involves parties from different Member States and where those parties 
decide to rely on the negotiation mec hanism, the parties should agree beforehand on the compet ent Member 
State. The body or the mediator s could meet with the parties to facilitat e the start of negotiations or in the 
course of the negotiations to facilitate the conclusion of an agreement. Participation in that negotiation 
mech anism and the subsequent conclusion of agreements should be volun tary and should not affect the parties' 
contractual freedom. Member States should be free to decide on the specific functioning of the negotiation 
mech anism, including the timing and duration of the assistance to negotiations and the bear ing of the 
costs. Member States should ensure that administrative and financia l burdens remain propor tionat e to guarant ee 
the efficiency of the negotiation mech anism. Without it being an obligation for them, Member States should 
encourag e dialogue between representative organisations. 
(53)  The expir y of the term of protection of a work entails the entr y of that work into the public domain and the 
expir y of the rights that Union copyright law provides in relation to that work. In the field of visual arts, the 
circulation of faithful reproductions of works in the public domain contr ibutes to the access to and promotion of 
culture, and the access to cultural heritage. In the digital environment, the protection of such reproductions 
through copyright or related rights is inconsistent with the expir y of the copyright protection of works. In 
addition, differ ences between the national copyright laws governing the protect ion of such reproductions give 
rise to legal uncer tainty and affect the cross-border dissemination of works of visual arts in the public domain. 
Certain reproductions of works of visual arts in the public domain should, theref ore, not be protect ed by 
copyright or related rights. All of that should not prevent cultural heritage institutions from selling reproductions, 
such as postcards. 
(54)  A free and pluralist press is essential to ensure quality jour nalism and citizens' access to information. It provides 
a fundamental contr ibution to public debate and the proper functioning of a democratic society . The wide 
availability of press publications online has given rise to the emergence of new online services, such as news 
aggrega tors or media monitoring services, for whic h the reuse of press publications constitute s an impor tant part 
of their business models and a source of revenue. Publishers of press publications are facing problems in 17.5.2019 L 130/103 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     licensing the online use of their publications to the provid ers of those kinds of services, making it more difficult 
for them to recoup their investments. In the absence of recognition of publishers of press publications as 
rightholders, the licensing and enforcement of rights in press publications regar ding online uses by information 
society service provid ers in the digital environment are often compl ex and ineffi cient. 
(55)  The organisational and financial contr ibution of publishers in producing press publications needs to be 
recognised and further encourag ed to ensure the sustainability of the publishing industr y and thereb y foster the 
availability of reliable information. It is theref ore necessar y to provide at Union level for harmonised legal 
prot ection for press publications in respect of online uses by information society service provid ers, which leav es 
the existing copyright rules in Union law applicable to private or non-commercial uses of press publications by 
individual users unaffect ed, including where such users share press publications online. Such protection should be 
effectively guarant eed through the introduction, in Union law, of rights relat ed to copyright for the reproduction 
and making available to the public of press publications of publishers established in a Member State in respect of 
online uses by information society service provid ers within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the 
European Parliament and of the Council (13). The legal protection for press publications provided for by this 
Directive should benefit publishers that are established in a Member State and have their register ed office , central 
administration or principal place of business within the Union. 
The concept of publisher of press publications should be understood as cover ing service providers, such as news 
publishers or news agencies, when they publish press publications within the meaning of this Directive. 
(56)  For the purposes of this Directive, it is necessar y to define the concept of ‘press publication’ so that it only covers 
jour nalistic publications, published in any media, including on paper , in the context of an economic activity that 
constitut es a provision of services under Union law. The press publications that should be covered include, 
for instance, daily newspapers, weekly or monthly maga zines of general or special inter est, including 
subscr iption-based magazines, and news website s. Press publications contain mostly literary works, but 
increasing ly include other types of works and other subject matt er, in particular photog raphs and 
videos. Periodical publications published for scientific or academic purposes, such as scientifi c jour nals, should 
not be covered by the protection grant ed to press publications under this Directive. Neither should that 
prot ection apply to website s, such as blogs, that provide information as part of an activity that is not carried out 
under the initiative, editori al responsibility and control of a service provider , such as a news publisher . 
(57)  The rights granted to the publishers of press publications under this Directive should have the same scope as the 
rights of reproduction and making available to the public provided for in Directive 2001/29/EC, insofar as online 
uses by information society service provid ers are concer ned. The rights grant ed to publishers of press 
publications should not extend to acts of hyperlinking. They should also not extend to mere facts repor ted in 
press publications. The rights granted to publishers of press publications under this Directive should also be 
subject to the same provisions on excep tions and limitations as those applicable to the rights provided for in 
Directive 2001/29/EC, including the excep tion in the case of quotations for purposes such as criticism or review 
provid ed for in Article 5(3)(d) of that Directive. 
(58)  The use of press publications by information society service providers can consist of the use of entire 
publications or articles but also of parts of press publications. Such uses of parts of press publications have also 
gained economic relevance. At the same time, the use of individual words or very shor t extracts of press 
publications by information society service provid ers may not under mine the investments made by publishers of 
press publications in the production of conte nt. Theref ore, it is appropr iate to provid e that the use of individual 
words or very shor t extracts of press publications should not fall within the scope of the rights provi ded for in 
this Directive. Taking into account the massive aggregat ion and use of press publications by information society 
service providers, it is impor tant that the excl usion of very shor t extracts be interpr eted in such a way as not to 
affect the effectiveness of the rights provided for in this Directive. 17.5.2019 L 130/104 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(13)Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 Sept ember 2015 laying down a procedure for the 
provi sion of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services (OJ L 241, 17.9.2015, p. 1). (59)  The prot ection grant ed to publishers of press publications under this Directive should not affect the rights of the 
authors and other rightholders in the works and other subject matt er incor porate d therein, including as regar ds 
the exte nt to which authors and other rightholders can exploit their works or other subject matte r independently 
from the press publication in which they are incor porat ed. Publishers of press publications should, theref ore, not 
be able to invoke the prote ction grant ed to them under this Directive against authors and other rightholders or 
against other author ised users of the same works or other subject matte r. That should be without prejudice to 
contractual arrang ements concluded between the publishers of press publications, on the one hand, and authors 
and other rightholders, on the other . Auth ors whose works are incor porat ed in a press publication should be 
entitled to an appropr iate share of the revenues that press publishers receive for the use of their press 
publications by information society service providers. That should be without prejudice to national laws on 
ownership or exer cise of rights in the cont ext of emplo yment contracts, provid ed that such laws are in 
compl iance with Union law. 
(60)  Publishers, including those of press publications, books or scientific publications and music publications, often 
operat e on the basis of the transfer of authors' rights by means of contractual agreements or statut ory 
provis ions. In that cont ext, publishers mak e an inve stment with a view to the exploitation of the works contained 
in their publications and can in some instances be depr ived of revenues where such works are used under 
excep tions or limitations such as those for private copying and reprography , including the corresponding existing 
national schemes for reprography in the Member State s, or under public lending sche mes. In several Member 
States, compen sation for uses under those excep tions or limitations is shared between authors and publishers. In 
order to take account of this situation and to impro ve legal certainty for all parties concer ned, this Directive 
allows Member States that have existing sche mes for the shar ing of compen sation between authors and 
publishers to maintain them. That is particularly important for Member State s that had such compen sation- 
shar ing mechanisms before 12 November 2015, although in other Member State s compen sation is not shared 
and is due solely to authors in accordance with national cultural policies. While this Directive should apply in 
a non-discr iminato ry way to all Member States, it should respect the traditions in this area and not oblig e 
Member States that do not currently have such compensation-shar ing schemes to introduce them. It should not 
affect existing or future arrang ements in Member States regar ding remuneration in the context of public lending. 
It should also leav e national arrang ements relating to the management of rights and to remuneration rights 
unaffect ed, provided that they are in compl iance with Union law. All Member State s should be allowe d but not 
oblig ed to provi de that, where authors have transferr ed or licensed their rights to a publisher or other wise 
contr ibute with their works to a publication, and there are systems in place to compensat e for the harm caused 
to them by an exce ption or limitation, including through collective management organisati ons that jointly 
represent authors and publishers, publishers are entitled to a share of such compen sation. Member States should 
remain free to determine how publishers are to substantiate their claims for compen sation or remuneration, and 
to lay down the conditions for the shar ing of such compen sation or remuneration between authors and 
publishers in accordance with their national systems. 
(61)  In recent years, the functioning of the online content mark et has gained in compl exity . Online conte nt-shar ing 
services providing access to a large amount of copyright-prot ected content uploaded by their users have become 
a main source of access to cont ent online. Online services are a means of provi ding wider access to cultural and 
creative works and offer great oppor tunities for cultural and creative industr ies to develop new business 
models. However , although they enable diversity and ease of access to conte nt, they also generat e challeng es 
when copyright-protect ed content is uploaded without prior author isation from rightholders. Legal uncer tainty 
exists as to whether the provid ers of such services enga ge in copyright-relevant acts, and need to obtain 
author isation from rightholders for content uploaded by their users who do not hold the relevant rights in the 
uploaded content, without prejudice to the application of excep tions and limitations provided for in Union law. 
That uncer tainty affects the ability of rightholders to determine whether , and under whic h conditions, their 
works and other subject matt er are used, as well as their ability to obtain appropr iate remuneration for such use. 
It is theref ore impor tant to foster the development of the licensing mark et between rightholders and online 
cont ent-shar ing service providers. Those licensing agreements should be fair and keep a reasonable balance 17.5.2019 L 130/105 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     between both parties. Rightholders should receive appropr iate remuneration for the use of their works or other 
subject matte r. Howe ver, as contractual freedom should not be affected by those provi sions, rightholders should 
not be obliged to give an author isation or to conclude licensing agreements. 
(62)  Certain information society services, as part of their normal use, are designed to give access to the public to 
copyright-prot ected content or other subject matter uploaded by their users. The definition of an online conte nt- 
shar ing service provi der laid down in this Directive should target only online services that play an impor tant role 
on the online cont ent mark et by compet ing with other online content services, such as online audio and video 
streaming services, for the same audiences. The services covered by this Directive are services, the main or one of 
the main purposes of which is to store and enable users to upload and share a large amount of copyright- 
prot ected content with the purpose of obtaining prof it therefrom, either directly or indirectly , by organising it 
and promoting it in order to attract a larger audience, including by catego rising it and using target ed promotion 
within it. Such services should not include services that have a main purpose other than that of enabling users to 
upload and share a large amount of copyright-prot ected content with the purpose of obtaining prof it from that 
activity . The latter services include, for instance, electronic communication services within the meaning of 
Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14), as well as provid ers of business-to- 
business cloud services and cloud services, which allow users to upload content for their own use, such as 
cyberloc kers, or online marketplaces the main activity of which is online retail, and not giving access to 
copyright-prot ected content. 
Prov iders of services such as open source software development and shar ing platf orms, not-f or-profi t scientifi c or 
educational repositori es as well as not-f or-profit online ency clopedias should also be excl uded from the definit ion 
of online content-shar ing service provider . Finally , in order to ensure a high level of copyright protection, the 
liability exemption mechanism provi ded for in this Directive should not apply to service providers the main 
purpose of which is to engage in or to facilitate copyright piracy . 
(63)  The assessment of whether an online content-shar ing service provid er store s and gives access to a large amount 
of copyright-protect ed cont ent should be made on a case-by- case basis and should take account of a combination 
of elements, such as the audience of the service and the number of files of copyright-protect ed content uploaded 
by the users of the service. 
(64)  It is appropr iate to clarify in this Directive that online content-sha ring service provi ders perform an act of 
communication to the public or of making available to the public when they give the public access to copyright- 
prot ected works or other prote cted subject matte r uploaded by their users. Consequently , online conte nt-shar ing 
service provid ers should obtain an author isation, including via a licensing agreement, from the relevant 
rightholders. This does not affect the concept of communication to the public or of making available to the 
public elsewhere under Union law, nor does it affect the possible application of Article 3(1) and (2) of Directive 
2001/29/EC to other service providers using copyright-prot ected content. 
(65)  When online content-shar ing service provid ers are liable for acts of communication to the public or making 
available to the public under the conditions laid down in this Directive, Article 14(1) of Directive 2000/31/EC 
should not apply to the liability arising from the provi sion of this Directive on the use of protect ed content by 
online content-shar ing service providers. That should not affect the application of Article 14(1) of Directive 
2000/31/EC to such service providers for purposes falling outside the scope of this Directive. 
(66)  Taking into account the fact that online content-shar ing service providers give access to cont ent whic h is not 
uploaded by them but by their users, it is appropr iate to provide for a specific liability mechani sm for the 
purposes of this Directive for cases in which no author isation has been granted. That should be without prejudice 17.5.2019 L 130/106 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(14)Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the European Electronic 
Communications Code (OJ L 321, 17.12.2018, p. 36). to remedies under national law for cases other than liability for copyright infringements and to national cour ts or 
administrative author ities being able to issue injunctions in compl iance with Union law. In particular , the specifi c 
regime applicable to new online content-shar ing service provid ers with an annual turnover below 
EUR 10 million, of which the average number of monthly unique visito rs in the Union does not exceed 
5 million, should not affect the availabi lity of remedies under Union and national law. Where no author isation 
has been granted to service provid ers, they should make their best efforts in accordance with high industr y 
standards of professional diligence to avoid the availabi lity on their services of unauthor ised works and other 
subject matter , as identif ied by the relevant rightholders. For that purpose, rightholders should provid e the service 
provid ers with relevant and necessar y information taking into account, among other factors, the size of 
rightholders and the type of their works and other subject matter . The steps take n by online conte nt-shar ing 
service providers in cooperation with rightholders should not lead to the prevention of the availabi lity of 
non-infr inging content, including works or other protect ed subject matte r the use of which is covered by 
a licensing agreement, or an exce ption or limitation to copyright and related rights. Steps take n by such service 
provid ers should, theref ore, not affect users who are using the online cont ent-shar ing services in order to lawfully 
upload and access information on such services. 
In addition, the obligations established in this Directive should not lead to Member States imposing a general 
monitoring oblig ation. When assessing whether an online cont ent-shar ing service provi der has made its best 
efforts in accordance with the high industr y standards of profes sional dilig ence, account should be taken of 
whether the service provi der has take n all the steps that would be taken by a dilig ent operat or to achieve the 
result of preventing the availability of unauthor ised works or other subject matter on its website, taking into 
account best industr y practices and the effectiveness of the steps taken in light of all relevant factors and 
developments, as well as the principle of propor tionality . For the purposes of that assessment, a number of 
elements should be considered, such as the size of the service, the evolving state of the art as rega rds existing 
means, including poten tial future developments, to avoid the availability of diffe rent types of content and the cost 
of such means for the services. Different means to avoid the availability of unauthor ised copyright-prot ected 
cont ent could be appropr iate and propor tionate depending on the type of cont ent, and, theref ore, it cannot be 
excl uded that in some cases availability of unauthor ised content can only be avoided upon notifi cation of 
rightholders. Any steps taken by service provid ers should be effective with regard to the objectives pursued but 
should not go beyond what is necessar y to achieve the objective of avoiding and discontinuing the availability of 
unauthor ised works and other subject matt er. 
If unauthor ised works and other subject matte r become available despite the best efforts made in cooperation 
with rightholders, as required by this Directive, the online content-shar ing service providers should be liable in 
relation to the specifi c works and other subject matter for whic h they have received the relevant and necessar y 
information from rightholders, unless those provid ers demonstrate that they have made their best efforts in 
accordance with high industr y standards of professional dilig ence. 
In addition, where specifi c unauthor ised works or other subject matt er have become available on online conte nt- 
shar ing services, including irrespective of whether the best efforts were made and regardless of whether 
rightholders have made available the relevant and necessar y information in advance, the online conte nt-shar ing 
service provid ers should be liable for unauthor ised acts of communication to the public of works or other subject 
matt er, when, upon receiving a suffi ciently substantiated notice, they fail to act expeditiously to disable access to, 
or to remo ve from their websites, the notified works or other subject matter . Additionally , such online cont ent- 
shar ing service providers should also be liable if they fail to demonstrate that they have made their best efforts to 
prevent the future uploading of specif ic unauthor ised works, based on relevant and necessar y information 
provid ed by rightholders for that purpose. 
Where rightholders do not provid e online cont ent-shar ing service providers with the relevant and necessar y 
information on their specifi c works or other subject matte r, or where no notifi cation concer ning the disabling of 
access to, or the removal of, specifi c unauthor ised works or other subject matter has been provi ded by 
rightholders, and, as a result, those service provid ers cannot mak e their best efforts to avoid the availability of 17.5.2019 L 130/107 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     unauthor ised conte nt on their services, in accordance with high industr y standards of professional diligence, such 
service provid ers should not be liable for unauthor ised acts of communication to the public or of making 
available to the public of such unidentified works or other subject matter . 
(67)  Similar to Article 16(2) of Directive 2014/26/EU, this Directive provides for rules as regar ds new online 
services. The rules provided for in this Directive are intended to take into account the specific case of start-up 
compan ies working with user uploads to develop new business models. The specif ic regime applicable to new 
service provid ers with a small turnover and audience should benefi t genuinely new businesses, and should 
theref ore cease to apply three years after their services first became available online in the Union. That regime 
should not be abused by arrangements aimed at extending its benefits beyond the first three years. In particular , it 
should not apply to newly created services or to services provid ed under a new name but which pursue the 
activity of an already existing online content-shar ing service provid er whic h could not benefi t or no longer 
benefits from that regime. 
(68)  Online cont ent-shar ing service providers should be transparent with rightholders with regar d to the step s taken 
in the context of cooperation. As various actions could be under take n by online content-shar ing service 
provid ers, they should provide rightholders, at the request of rightholders, with adequate information on the type 
of actions under taken and the way in which they are under take n. Such information should be sufficiently specifi c 
to provi de enough transparency to rightholders, without affecting business secrets of online content-shar ing 
service providers. Service providers should, however , not be required to provide rightholders with detailed and 
individualised information for each work or other subject matte r identif ied. That should be without prejudice to 
contractual arrang ements, which could contain more specif ic provis ions on the information to be provided where 
agreements are concluded between service providers and rightholders. 
(69)  Where online cont ent-shar ing service provi ders obtain author isations, including through licensing agreements, for 
the use on their service of content uploaded by the users of the service, those author isations should also cover 
the copyright relevant acts in respect of uploads by users within the scope of the author isation grant ed to the 
service provid ers, but only in cases where those users act for non-commercial purposes, such as shar ing their 
cont ent without any prof it-making purpose, or where the revenue generat ed by their uploads is not signif icant 
in relation to the copyright relevant acts of the users covered by such author isations. Where rightholders 
have explicitly author ised users to upload and make available works or other subject matte r on an online 
cont ent-shar ing service, the act of communication to the public of the service provid er is author ised within the 
scope of the author isation granted by the rightholder . Howe ver, there should be no presump tion in favour of 
online conte nt-shar ing service providers that their users have cleared all relevant rights. 
(70)  The steps taken by online conte nt-shar ing service providers in cooperation with rightholders should be without 
prejudice to the application of excep tions or limitations to copyright, including, in particular , those whic h 
guarant ee the freedom of expression of users. Users should be allowed to upload and make available content 
generated by users for the specific purposes of quotation, criticism, review , caricature, parody or pastiche. That is 
particularly important for the purposes of striking a balance between the fundamental rights laid down in the 
Char ter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Char ter’), in particular the freedom of expression and 
the freedom of the arts, and the right to proper ty, including intellectual proper ty. Those excep tions and 
limitations should, theref ore, be made mandat ory in order to ensure that users receive unif orm prote ction across 
the Union. It is impor tant to ensure that online conte nt-shar ing service providers operat e an effective compl aint 
and redress mechanism to suppor t use for such specific purposes. 
Online content-shar ing service providers should also put in place effective and expeditious compl aint and redress 
mech anisms allowing users to compl ain about the steps taken with regar d to their uploads, in particular where 
they could benefit from an excep tion or limitation to copyright in relation to an upload to which access has been 
disabled or that has been remo ved. Any complaint filed under such mec hanisms should be processed without 17.5.2019 L 130/108 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     undue dela y and be subject to human review . When rightholders request the service provid ers to take action 
against uploads by users, such as disabling access to or remo ving content uploaded, such rightholders should 
duly justify their requests. Moreo ver, cooperation should not lead to any identif ication of individual users nor to 
the processing of personal data, excep t in accordance with Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and 
of the Council (15) and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (16). Member 
States should also ensure that users have access to out-of-cour t redress mechani sms for the settlement of 
disputes . Such mechanis ms should allow dispute s to be settled impar tially . Users should also have access to 
a cour t or another relevant judicial author ity to asser t the use of an excep tion or limitation to copyright and 
relat ed rights. 
(71)  As soon as possible after the date of entr y into force of this Directive, the Commission, in cooperation with 
Member State s, should organise dialogues between stak eholders to ensure unif orm application of the oblig ation 
of cooperation between online content-shar ing service provid ers and rightholders and to establish best practices 
with regard to the appropr iate industr y standards of professional diligence. For that purpose, the Commission 
should consult relevant stakeholders, including users' organisations and technology providers, and take into 
account developments on the mark et. Users' organisations should also have access to information on actions 
carried out by online content-shar ing service provi ders to manage content online. 
(72)  Authors and performers tend to be in the weaker contractual position when they grant a licence or transfer their 
rights, including through their own companies, for the purposes of exploitation in retur n for remuneration, and 
those natural persons need the prot ection provided for by this Directive to be able to fully benefit from the rights 
harmonised under Union law. That need for prote ction does not arise where the contractual count erpart acts as 
an end user and does not exploit the work or performance itself, which could, for instance, be the case in some 
emp loyment contracts. 
(73)  The remuneration of authors and performers should be appropr iate and propor tionate to the actual or poten tial 
economic value of the licensed or transferr ed rights, taking into account the author's or performer's contr ibution 
to the overall work or other subject matter and all other circumstances of the case, such as market practices or 
the actual exploitation of the work. A lump sum payment can also constitute propor tionate remuneration but it 
should not be the rule. Member States should have the freedom to define specifi c cases for the application of 
lump sums, taking into account the specif icities of each sector. Member State s should be free to implement the 
principle of appropr iate and propor tionat e remuneration through differ ent existing or newly introduced 
mech anisms, which could include collective bargaining and other mech anisms, provided that such mech anisms 
are in conf ormity with applicable Union law. 
(74)  Authors and performe rs need information to assess the economic value of rights of theirs that are harmonised 
under Union law. This is especially the case where natural persons grant a licence or a transfer of rights for the 
purposes of exploitation in retur n for remuneration. That need does not arise where the exploitation has ceased, 
or where the author or performe r has grant ed a licence to the general public without remuneration. 
(75)  As authors and performers tend to be in the weaker contractual position when they grant licences or transfer 
their rights, they need information to assess the continued economic value of their rights, compar ed to the 
remuneration received for their licence or transfer , but they often face a lack of transparency . Theref ore, the 
shar ing of adequate and accurat e information by their contractual counte rparts or their successors in title is 
important for the transparency and balance in the syste m governing the remuneration of authors and 17.5.2019 L 130/109 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(15)Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concer ning the processing of personal data and 
the prot ection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (OJ L 201, 
31.7.2002, p. 37). 
(16)Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 Apr il 2016 on the prot ection of natural persons with 
regar d to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data 
Prot ection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1). performers. That information should be up-to -date to allow access to recent data, relevant to the exploitation of 
the work or performa nce, and compre hensive in a way that it covers all sources of revenues relevant to the case, 
including, where applicable, merchandisin g revenues. As long as exploitation is ongoing, contractual counte rparts 
of authors and performers should provide information available to them on all modes of exploitation and on all 
relevant revenues worldwide with a regular ity that is appropr iate in the relevant sector, but at least annually . The 
information should be provided in a manner that is comprehensible to the author or performer and it should 
allow the effective assessment of the economic value of the rights in question. The transparency oblig ation 
should never theless apply only where copyright relevant rights are concer ned. The processing of personal data, 
such as contact details and information on remuneration, that are necessar y to keep authors and performers 
informed in relation to the exploitation of their works and performa nces, should be carried out in accordance 
with Article 6(1)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679. 
(76)  In order to ensure that exploitation-related information is duly provid ed to authors and performe rs also in cases 
where the rights have been sub-licensed to other parties who exploit the rights, this Directive entitles authors and 
performers to request additional relevant information on the exploitation of the rights, in cases where the first 
contractual count erpart has provid ed the information available to them, but that information is not sufficient to 
assess the economic value of their rights. That request should be made either directly to sub-licensees or through 
the contractual count erparts of authors and performe rs. Auth ors and performe rs, and their contractual 
count erparts, should be able to agree to keep the shared information conf idential, but authors and performers 
should alwa ys be able to use the shared information for the purpose of exercising their rights under this 
Directive. Member State s should have the option, in compliance with Union law, to provide for further measures 
to ensure transparency for authors and performe rs. 
(77)  When imp lementing the transparency oblig ation provid ed for in this Directive, Member States should take into 
account the specificities of differ ent content sectors , such as those of the music sector , the audiovisual sector and 
the publishing sector , and all relevant stake holders should be involved when deciding on such sector -specif ic 
oblig ations. Where relevant, the signif icance of the contr ibution of authors and performe rs to the overall work or 
performa nce should also be considered. Collective bargaining should be considered as an option for the relevant 
stak eholders to reach an agreement regarding transparency . Such agreements should ensure that authors and 
performers have the same level of transparency as or a higher level of transparency than the minimum 
requirements provi ded for in this Directive. To enable the adapt ation of existing repor ting practices to the 
transparency oblig ation, a transitional period should be provided for. It should not be necessar y to apply the 
transparency oblig ation in respect of agreements concluded between rightholders and collective manag ement 
organisations, independent management entities or other entities subject to the national rules implementing 
Directive 2014/26/EU, as those organisations or entities are already subject to transparency obligations under 
Article 18 of Directive 2014/26/EU. Article 18 of Directive 2014/26/EU applies to organisations that manage 
copyright or relat ed rights on behalf of more than one rightholder for the collective benefit of those 
rightholders. Howe ver, individually negotiate d agreements concluded between rightholders and those of their 
contractual count erparts who act in their own interest should be subject to the transparency oblig ation provid ed 
for in this Directive. 
(78)  Certain contracts for the exploitation of rights harmonised at Union level are of long duration, offering few 
oppor tunities for authors and performe rs to renegotiat e them with their contractual count erparts or their 
successors in title in the event that the economic value of the rights turns out to be signif icantly higher than 
initially estimat ed. According ly, without prejudice to the law applicable to contracts in Member State s, 
a remuneration adjustment mec hanism should be provided for as regards cases where the remuneration originally 
agreed under a licence or a transfe r of rights clearly becomes dispropor tionately low compared to the relevant 
revenues derived from the subsequent exploitation of the work or fixation of the perf ormance by the contractual 
count erpart of the author or performer . All revenues relevant to the case in question, including, where applicable, 
merc handising revenues, should be taken into account for the assessment of whether the remuneration is dispro ­
portionate ly low. The assessment of the situation should take account of the specifi c circumstances of each case, 
including the contr ibution of the author or performe r, as well as of the specificities and remuneration practices 
in the different conte nt sector s, and whether the contract is based on a collective bargaining agreement. Represen ­
tatives of authors and performe rs duly mandat ed in accordance with national law in compl iance with Union law, 
should be able to provi de assistance to one or more authors or performe rs in relation to requests for the 
adjustment of the contracts, also taking into account the inter ests of other authors or performers where relevant. 17.5.2019 L 130/110 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     Those representatives should protect the identity of the represented authors and performe rs for as long as that is 
possible. Where the parties do not agree on the adjustment of the remuneration, the author or perf ormer should 
be entitled to bring a claim before a cour t or other compet ent author ity. Such mechanism should not apply to 
contracts concluded by entities defined in Article 3(a) and (b) of Directive 2014/26/EU or by other entities 
subject to national rules implementing Directive 2014/26/EU. 
(79)  Authors and perf ormers are often reluctant to enforce their rights against their contractual partners before 
a cour t or tribunal. Member States should theref ore provide for an altern ative dispute resolution procedure that 
addresses claims by authors and performe rs, or by their representatives on their behalf, related to oblig ations of 
transparency and the contract adjustment mech anism. For that purpose, Member States should be able to either 
establish a new body or mech anism, or rely on an existing one that fulfils the conditions established by this 
Directive, irrespective of whether those bodies or mec hanisms are industr y-led or public, including when part of 
the national judiciar y system. Member States should have flexibility in deciding how the costs of the dispute 
resolution procedure are to be allocated. Such altern ative dispute resolution procedure should be without 
prejudice to the right of parties to asser t and defend their rights by bringing an action before a cour t. 
(80)  When authors and perf ormers license or transfe r their rights, they expect their work or performa nce to be 
exploit ed. However , it could be the case that works or perf ormances that have been licensed or transferred are 
not exploited at all. Where those rights have been transferred on an excl usive basis, authors and performers 
cannot turn to another partner to exploit their works or perf ormances. In such a case, and after a reasonable 
period of time has elapsed, authors and performe rs should be able to benefit from a mech anism for the 
revocati on of rights allowing them to transfer or license their rights to another person. As exploitation of works 
or performa nces can vary depending on the sectors, specifi c provisions could be laid down at national level in 
order to take into account the specifi cities of the sectors, such as the audio visual sector , or of the works or 
performa nces, in particular provi ding for time frames for the right of revocati on. In order to prot ect the 
legitimate inter ests of licensees and transfer ees of rights and to prevent abuses, and taking into account that 
a certain amount of time is needed before a work or performa nce is actually exploit ed, authors and performe rs 
should be able to exercise the right of revocati on in accordance with certain procedural requirements and only 
after a certain period of time followi ng the conclusion of the licence or of the transfer agreement. Member States 
should be allowed to regulate the exer cise of the right of revocati on in the case of works or performa nces 
involving more than one author or perf ormer , taking into account the relative impor tance of the individual 
contr ibutions. 
(81)  The provisions regarding transparency , contract adjustment mechanisms and alternative dispute resolution 
procedures laid down in this Directive should be of a mandatory nature, and parties should not be able to 
deroga te from those provis ions, whether in contracts between authors, performe rs and their contractual 
count erparts, or in agreements between those count erparts and third parties, such as non-disclosure agreements. 
As a consequence, Article 3(4) of Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council (17) should apply to the effect that, where all other elements relevant to the situation at the time of the 
choice of applicable law are locat ed in one or more Member States, the parties' choice of applicable law other 
than that of a Member State does not prejudice the application of the provisions regar ding transparency , contract 
adjustment mech anisms and altern ative dispute resolution procedures laid down in this Directive, as implemen ted 
in the Member State of the forum. 
(82)  Nothing in this Directive should be interpreted as preventing holders of excl usive rights under Union copyright 
law from author ising the use of their works or other subject matt er for free, including through non-exc lusive free 
licences for the benefit of any users. 
(83)  Since the objective of this Directive, namely the moder nisation of certain aspects of the Union copyright 
framew ork to take account of technological developments and new channels of distr ibution of prote cted content 
in the internal mark et, cannot be suffi ciently achi eved by Member States but can rather , by reason of their scale, 
effects and cross-border dimension, be bette r achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in 17.5.2019 L 130/111 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(17)Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual 
oblig ations (Rome I) (OJ L 177, 4.7.2008, p. 6). accordance with the principle of subsidiar ity as set out in Article 5 TEU. In accordance with the principle of 
propor tionality , as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessar y in order to achieve 
that objective. 
(84)  This Directive respects the fundamental rights and obser ves the principles recognised in particular by the Char ter. 
According ly, this Directive should be interpr eted and applied in accordance with those rights and principles. 
(85)  Any processing of personal data under this Directive should respect fundamental rights, including the right to 
respect for private and family life and the right to prot ection of personal data set out in Articles 7 and 8, 
respectively , of the Char ter and must be in compliance with Directive 2002/58/EC and Regulation 
(EU) 2016/679. 
(86)  In accordance with the Joint Political Declaration of 28 Sept ember 2011 of Member States and the Commission 
on explanato ry documents (18), Member States have under taken to accompan y, in justified cases, the notification 
of their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the 
compo nents of a directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition instr uments. With regard to this 
Directive, the legislator considers the transmission of such documents to be justified, 
HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 
TITLE I 
GENERAL PROVISIONS 
Article 1 
Subject matter and scope 
1. This Directive lays down rules which aim to harmonise further Union law applicable to copyright and relat ed 
rights in the framewor k of the internal mark et, taking into account, in particular , digital and cross-border uses of 
prote cted cont ent. It also lays down rules on excep tions and limitations to copyright and related rights, on the 
facilitation of licences, as well as rules which aim to ensure a well-functioning marketplace for the exploitation of works 
and other subject matte r. 
2. Except in the cases refer red to in Article 24, this Directive shall leav e intact and shall in no way affect existing 
rules laid down in the directives currently in force in this area, in particular Directives 96/9/EC, 2000/31/EC, 
2001/29/EC, 2006/115/EC, 2009/24/EC, 2012/28/EU and 2014/26/EU. 
Article 2 
Def initions 
For the purposes of this Directive, the follo wing definitions apply:  
(1) ‘research orga nisation’ means a university , including its librar ies, a research institute or any other entity , the primar y 
goal of whic h is to conduct scientifi c research or to carry out educational activities involving also the conduct of 
scientifi c researc h: 
(a)  on a not-f or-profit basis or by reinvesting all the prof its in its scientifi c researc h; or 
(b)  pursuant to a public inter est mission recognised by a Member State; 
in such a way that the access to the results generated by such scientific researc h cannot be enjo yed on a prefe rential 
basis by an under taking that exercises a decisive influence upon such organisation;  
(2) ‘text and data mining’ means any automat ed analytical technique aimed at analysing text and data in digital form in 
order to generat e information which includes but is not limited to patter ns, trends and correlations;  
(3) ‘cultural heritage institution’ means a publicly accessible librar y or museum, an archive or a film or audio heritage 
institution; 17.5.2019 L 130/112 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(18)OJ C 369, 17.12.2011, p. 14. (4) ‘press publication’ means a collection compo sed mainly of literary works of a jour nalistic nature, but which can also 
include other works or other subject matt er, and which : 
(a)  constitut es an individual item within a periodical or regularly updated publication under a sing le title, such as 
a newspaper or a general or special inter est magazine; 
(b)  has the purpose of provi ding the general public with information relat ed to news or other topi cs; and 
(c)  is published in any media under the initiative, editorial responsibility and control of a service provid er. 
Periodicals that are published for scientifi c or academic purposes, such as scientifi c jour nals, are not press 
publications for the purposes of this Directive;  
(5) ‘information society service’ means a service within the meaning of point (b) of Article 1(1) of Directive 
(EU) 2015/1535;  
(6) ‘online content-shar ing service provid er’ means a provid er of an information society service of which the main or 
one of the main purposes is to store and give the public access to a large amount of copyright-protect ed works or 
other prot ected subject matte r uploaded by its users, whic h it organises and promotes for prof it-making purposes. 
Providers of services, such as not-f or-profit online ency clopedias, not-f or-profi t educational and scientifi c 
repositori es, open source software-developing and-shar ing platf orms, providers of electronic communications 
services as defined in Directive (EU) 2018/1972, online marketplaces, business-t o-business cloud services and cloud 
services that allow users to upload conte nt for their own use, are not ‘online content-shar ing service provid ers’ 
within the meaning of this Directive. 
TITLE II 
MEASURES TO ADAPT EXCEPTIONS AND LIMIT ATIONS TO THE DIGIT AL AND CROSS-BORDER 
ENVIR ONMENT 
Article 3 
Text and data mining for the pur poses of scientif ic research 
1. Member State s shall provide for an excep tion to the rights provided for in Article 5(a) and Article 7(1) of Directive 
96/9/EC, Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC, and Article 15(1) of this Directive for reproductions and extractions made 
by research organisations and cultural heritage institutions in order to carry out, for the purposes of scientific research, 
text and data mining of works or other subject matte r to which they have lawful access. 
2. Copies of works or other subject matte r made in compl iance with paragraph 1 shall be store d with an appropr iate 
level of secur ity and may be retained for the purposes of scientific researc h, including for the verification of research 
results. 
3. Rightholders shall be allowed to apply measures to ensure the secur ity and integrity of the netw orks and databases 
where the works or other subject matt er are hoste d. Such measures shall not go beyond what is necessar y to achi eve 
that objective. 
4. Member State s shall encourage rightholders, research organisations and cultural heritage institutions to define 
commonly agreed best practices concer ning the application of the oblig ation and of the measures refer red to in 
paragraphs 2 and 3 respectively . 
Article 4 
Exception or limitation for text and data mining 
1. Member States shall provid e for an excep tion or limitation to the rights provid ed for in Article 5(a) and 
Article 7(1) of Directive 96/9/EC, Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC, Article 4(1)(a) and (b) of Directive 2009/24/EC and 
Article 15(1) of this Directive for reproductions and extractions of lawfully accessible works and other subject matt er 
for the purposes of text and data mining. 17.5.2019 L 130/113 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     2. Reproductions and extractions made pursuant to paragraph 1 may be retained for as long as is necessar y for the 
purposes of text and data mining. 
3. The excep tion or limitation provided for in paragraph 1 shall apply on condition that the use of works and other 
subject matt er refer red to in that paragraph has not been expressly reser ved by their rightholders in an appropr iate 
manner , such as machine-readable means in the case of content made publicly available online. 
4. This Article shall not affect the application of Article 3 of this Directive. 
Article 5 
Use of works and other subject matter in digital and cross-border teaching activities 
1. Member States shall provi de for an excep tion or limitation to the rights provi ded for in Article 5(a), (b), (d) and (e) 
and Article 7(1) of Directive 96/9/EC, Articles 2 and 3 of Directive 2001/29/EC, Article 4(1) of Directive 2009/24/EC 
and Article 15(1) of this Directive in order to allow the digital use of works and other subject matt er for the sole 
purpose of illustration for teac hing, to the extent justified by the non-commercial purpose to be achi eved, on condition 
that such use: 
(a)  takes place under the responsibility of an educational establishment, on its premises or at other venues, or through 
a secure electronic environment accessible only by the educational establishment's pupils or students and teac hing 
staff; and 
(b)  is accompanied by the indication of the source, including the author's name, unless this turns out to be impossible. 
2. Notwithstanding Article 7(1), Member States may provid e that the excep tion or limitation adopt ed pursuant to 
paragraph 1 does not apply or does not apply as regar ds specific uses or types of works or other subject matte r, such as 
mate rial that is primar ily intended for the educational mark et or sheet music, to the extent that suitable licences 
author ising the acts referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and cover ing the needs and specifi cities of educational 
establishments are easily available on the mark et. 
Member State s that decide to avail of the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall take the necessar y measures to 
ensure that the licences author ising the acts refer red to in paragraph 1 of this Article are available and visible in an 
appropr iate manner for educational establishments. 
3. The use of works and other subject matte r for the sole purpose of illustration for teac hing through secure 
electronic envi ronments under taken in compl iance with the provisions of national law adopt ed pursuant to this Article 
shall be deemed to occur solely in the Member State where the educational establishment is established. 
4. Member State s may provide for fair compensation for rightholders for the use of their works or other subject 
matt er pursuant to paragraph 1. 
Article 6 
Preser vation of cultural heritage 
Member States shall provi de for an exce ption to the rights provided for in Article 5(a) and Article 7(1) of Directive 
96/9/EC, Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC, Article 4(1)(a) of Directive 2009/24/EC and Article 15(1) of this Directive, 
in order to allow cultural heritage institutions to mak e copies of any works or other subject matt er that are permanently 
in their collections, in any format or medium, for purposes of preser vation of such works or other subject matte r and to 
the extent necessar y for such preser vation. 
Article 7 
Common provisions 
1. Any contractual provision contrar y to the excep tions provided for in Articles 3, 5 and 6 shall be unenf orceable. 
2. Article 5(5) of Directive 2001/29/EC shall apply to the excep tions and limitations provid ed for under this Title. 
The first, third and fifth subparagraphs of Article 6(4) of Directive 2001/29/EC shall apply to Articles 3 to 6 of this 
Directive. 17.5.2019 L 130/114 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     TITLE III 
MEASURES TO IMPR OVE LICENSING PRA CTICES AND ENSURE WIDER ACCESS TO CONTENT 
CHAPTER 1 
Out-of-commer ce works and other subject matter 
Article 8 
Use of out-of-commerce works and other subject matter by cultural heritage institutions 
1. Member States shall provide that a collective manage ment organisation, in accordance with its mandat es from 
rightholders, may conclude a non-exclusive licence for non-commercial purposes with a cultural heritage institution for 
the reproduction, distr ibution, communication to the public or making available to the public of out-of-commerce 
works or other subject matt er that are permanently in the collection of the institution, irrespective of whether all 
rightholders covered by the licence have mandated the collective manag ement organisation, on condition that: 
(a)  the collective manage ment organisation is, on the basis of its mandates, suffic iently representative of rightholders in 
the relevant type of works or other subject matter and of the rights that are the subject of the licence; and 
(b)  all rightholders are guaranteed equal treatment in relation to the term s of the licence. 
2. Member States shall provi de for an excep tion or limitation to the rights provi ded for in Article 5(a), (b), (d) and (e) 
and Article 7(1) of Directive 96/9/EC, Articles 2 and 3 of Directive 2001/29/EC, Article 4(1) of Directive 2009/24/EC, 
and Article 15(1) of this Directive, in order to allow cultural heritage institutions to mak e available, for non-commercial 
purposes, out-of-commerce works or other subject matter that are permanently in their collections, on condition that: 
(a)  the name of the author or any other identifiable rightholder is indicated, unless this turns out to be impossible; and 
(b)  such works or other subject matt er are made available on non-commercial websites . 
3. Member States shall provide that the excep tion or limitation provid ed for in paragraph 2 only applies to types of 
works or other subject matt er for which no collective management organisation that fulfils the condition set out in 
point (a) of paragraph 1 exists. 
4. Member State s shall provide that all rightholders may, at any time, easily and effectively , excl ude their works or 
other subject matt er from the licensing mechanism set out in paragraph 1 or from the application of the excep tion or 
limitation provided for in paragraph 2, either in general or in specifi c cases, including after the conclusion of a licence 
or after the beginning of the use concer ned. 
5. A work or other subject matt er shall be deemed to be out of commerce when it can be presumed in good faith 
that the whole work or other subject matte r is not available to the public through customary channels of commerce, 
after a reasonable effort has been made to determine whether it is available to the public. 
Member States may provide for specifi c requirements, such as a cut-off date, to deter mine whether works and other 
subject matter can be licensed in accordance with paragraph 1 or used under the excep tion or limitation provided for in 
paragraph 2. Such requirements shall not extend beyond what is necessar y and reasonable, and shall not preclude being 
able to deter mine that a set of works or other subject matter as a whole is out of commerce, when it is reasonable to 
presume that all works or other subject matter are out of commerce. 
6. Member States shall provide that the licences refer red to in paragraph 1 are to be sought from a collective 
manage ment organisation that is representative for the Member State where the cultural heritage institution is 
established. 
7. This Article shall not apply to sets of out-of-commerce works or other subject matte r if, on the basis of the 
reasonable effort refer red to in paragraph 5, there is evidence that such sets predominantly consist of: 
(a)  works or other subject matte r, other than cinemat ographic or audiovisual works, first published or, in the absence of 
publication, first broadcast in a third countr y; 17.5.2019 L 130/115 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     (b)  cinematograph ic or audiovi sual works, of which the producers have their headquar ters or habitual residence in 
a third countr y; or 
(c)  works or other subject matt er of third countr y nationals, where after a reasonable effort no Member State or third 
countr y could be deter mined pursuant to points (a) and (b). 
By way of derog ation from the first subparagraph, this Article shall apply where the collective management organisation 
is suffi ciently representative, within the meaning of point (a) of paragraph 1, of rightholders of the relevant third 
countr y. 
Article 9 
Cross-border uses 
1. Member States shall ensure that licences grant ed in accordance with Article 8 may allow the use of 
out-of-commerce works or other subject matter by cultural heritage institutions in any Member State. 
2. The uses of works and other subject matte r under the excep tion or limitation provided for in Article 8(2) shall be 
deemed to occur solely in the Member State where the cultural heritage institution under taking that use is established. 
Article 10 
Publicity measures 
1. Member States shall ensure that information from cultural heritage institutions, collective management organ­
isations or relevant public author ities, for the purposes of the identif ication of the out-of-commerce works or other 
subject matte r, covered by a licence grant ed in accordance with Article 8(1), or used under the excep tion or limitation 
provid ed for in Article 8(2), as well as information about the options available to rightholders as refer red to in 
Article 8(4), and, as soon as it is available and where relevant, information on the parties to the licence, the territories 
covered and the uses, is made permanently , easily and effectively accessible on a public sing le online portal from at least 
six months before the works or other subject matter are distr ibut ed, communicated to the public or made available to 
the public in accordance with the licence or under the exce ption or limitation. 
The portal shall be established and manage d by the European Union Intellectual Proper ty Office in accordance with 
Regulation (EU) No 386/2012. 
2. Member States shall provide that, if necessar y for the general aware ness of rightholders, additional appropr iate 
publicity measures are taken regar ding the ability of collective manag ement organisations to license works or other 
subject matte r in accordance with Article 8, the licences grant ed, the uses under the excep tion or limitation provided for 
in Article 8(2) and the options available to rightholders as refer red to in Article 8(4). 
The appropr iate publicity measures refer red to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be take n in the Member 
State where the licence is sought in accordance with Article 8(1) or, for uses under the excep tion or limitation provided 
for in Article 8(2), in the Member State where the cultural heritage institution is established. If there is evidence, such as 
the origin of the works or other subject matte r, to suggest that the awareness of rightholders could be more efficiently 
raised in other Member States or third countr ies, such publicity measures shall also cover those Member States and third 
countr ies. 
Article 11 
Stakeholder dialogue 
Member State s shall consult rightholders, collective manage ment organisations and cultural heritage institutions in each 
sector before establishing specifi c requirements pursuant to Article 8(5), and shall encourage regular dialogue between 
representative users' and rightholders' organisations, including collective management organisations, and any other 
relevant stakeho lder orga nisations, on a sector-specif ic basis, to foste r the relevance and usability of the licensing 
mech anisms set out in Article 8(1) and to ensure that the safeguards for rightholders referred to in this Chapt er are 
effective. 17.5.2019 L 130/116 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     CHAPTER 2 
Measur es to facilitate collectiv e licensing 
Article 12 
Collectiv e licensing with an extended effect 
1. Member States may provi de, as far as the use on their territory is concer ned and subject to the safeguards provid ed 
for in this Article, that where a collective manag ement organisation that is subject to the national rules imple menting 
Directive 2014/26/EU, in accordance with its mandates from rightholders, enters into a licensing agreement for the 
exploitation of works or other subject matt er: 
(a)  such an agreement can be extended to apply to the rights of rightholders who have not author ised that collective 
manage ment organisation to represent them by way of assignment, licence or any other contractual arrang ement ; or 
(b)  with respect to such an agreement, the organisation has a legal mandat e or is presumed to represent rightholders 
who have not author ised the organisation according ly. 
2. Member States shall ensure that the licensing mechani sm refer red to in paragraph 1 is only applied within 
well-def ined areas of use, where obtaining author isations from rightholders on an individual basis is typically onerous 
and impractical to a degree that make s the required licensing transaction unlikely , due to the nature of the use or of the 
types of works or other subject matte r concer ned, and shall ensure that such licensing mechanism safeg uards the 
legitimate interests of rightholders. 
3. For the purposes of paragraph 1, Member State s shall provide for the followi ng safeg uards: 
(a)  the collective manage ment organisation is, on the basis of its mandates, suffic iently representative of rightholders in 
the relevant type of works or other subject matt er and of the rights whic h are the subject of the licence, for the 
relevant Member State ; 
(b)  all rightholders are guaranteed equal treatment, including in relation to the terms of the licence; 
(c)  rightholders who have not author ised the organisation granting the licence may at any time easily and effectively 
excl ude their works or other subject matte r from the licensing mechanism established in accordance with this 
Article; and 
(d)  appropr iate publicity measures are take n, starting from a reasonable period before the works or other subject matt er 
are used under the licence, to inform rightholders about the ability of the collective manag ement organisation to 
license works or other subject matt er, about the licensing taking place in accordance with this Article and about the 
options available to rightholders as referred to in point (c). Publicity measures shall be effective without the need to 
inform each rightholder individually . 
4. This Article does not affect the application of collective licensing mech anisms with an exte nded effect in 
accordance with other provisions of Union law, including provisions that allow excep tions or limitations. 
This Article shall not apply to mandatory collective management of rights. 
Article 7 of Directive 2014/26/EU shall apply to the licensing mec hanism provided for in this Article. 
5. Where a Member State provides in its national law for a licensing mechanis m in accordance with this Article, that 
Member State shall inform the Commission about the scope of the corresponding national provi sions, about the 
purposes and types of licences that may be introduced under those provisions, about the contact details of organisations 
issuing licences in accordance with that licensing mecha nism, and about the means by whic h information on the 
licensing and on the options available to rightholders as refer red to in point (c) of paragraph 3 can be obtained. The 
Commission shall publish that information. 
6. Based on the information received pursuant to paragraph 5 of this Article and on the discussions within the 
contact committe e established in Article 12(3) of Directive 2001/29/EC, the Commission shall, by 10 Apr il 2021, 
submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a repor t on the use in the Union of the licensing mechani sms 
referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, their impact on licensing and rightholders, including rightholders who are not 
members of the organisation granting the licences or who are nationals of, or resident in, another Member State, their 
effectiveness in facilitating the dissemination of cultural cont ent, and their impact on the internal market, including the 
cross-border provision of services and competition. That repor t shall be accompan ied, if appropr iate, by a legislative 
proposal, including as rega rds the cross-border effect of such national mechanisms. 17.5.2019 L 130/117 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     CHAPTER 3 
Access to and availability of audiovisual work s on video-on-demand platf orms 
Article 13 
Negotiation mechanism 
Member States shall ensure that parties facing difficulties related to the licensing of rights when seeking to conclude an 
agreement for the purpose of making available audiovisual works on video-on-demand services may rely on the 
assistance of an impartial body or of mediat ors. The impar tial body established or designated by a Member State for the 
purpose of this Article and mediators shall provid e assistance to the parties with their negotiations and help the parties 
reac h agreements, including, where appropr iate, by submitting proposals to them. 
Member States shall notify the Commission of the body or mediator s refer red to in the first paragraph no later than 
7 June 2021. Where Member State s have chosen to rely on mediation, the notification to the Commission shall at least 
include, when available, the source where relevant information on the mediator s entr usted can be found. 
CHAPTER 4 
Works of visual art in the public domain 
Article 14 
Works of visual art in the public domain 
Member State s shall provi de that, when the term of protection of a work of visual art has expired, any mat erial resulting 
from an act of reproduction of that work is not subject to copyright or relat ed rights, unless the mater ial resulting from 
that act of reproduction is original in the sense that it is the author's own intellectual creation. 
TITLE IV 
MEASURES TO ACHIEVE A WELL -FUNCTIONING MARKETPL ACE FOR COPY RIGHT 
CHAPTER 1 
Rights in publications 
Article 15 
Protection of press publications concer ning online uses 
1. Member States shall provide publishers of press publications established in a Member State with the rights 
provid ed for in Article 2 and Article 3(2) of Directive 2001/29/EC for the online use of their press publications by 
information society service providers. 
The rights provid ed for in the first subparagraph shall not apply to private or non-commercial uses of press publications 
by individual users. 
The protection grant ed under the first subparagraph shall not apply to acts of hyperlinking. 
The rights provided for in the first subparagraph shall not apply in respect of the use of individual words or very shor t 
extracts of a press publication. 
2. The rights provided for in paragraph 1 shall leav e intact and shall in no way affect any rights provided for in 
Union law to authors and other rightholders, in respect of the works and other subject matter incor porated in a press 
publication. The rights provided for in paragraph 1 shall not be invoked against those authors and other rightholders 
and, in particular , shall not depr ive them of their right to exploit their works and other subject matter independently 
from the press publication in which they are incor porated. 17.5.2019 L 130/118 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     When a work or other subject matt er is incor porat ed in a press publication on the basis of a non-exc lusive licence, the 
rights provided for in paragraph 1 shall not be invoked to prohibit the use by other author ised users. The rights 
provid ed for in paragraph 1 shall not be invoked to prohibit the use of works or other subject matter for whic h 
prote ction has expired. 
3. Articles 5 to 8 of Directive 2001/29/EC, Directive 2012/28/EU and Directive (EU) 2017/1564 of the European 
Parliament of the Council (19) shall apply mutatis mutandis in respect of the rights provided for in paragraph 1 of this 
Article. 
4. The rights provided for in paragraph 1 shall expire two years after the press publication is published. That term 
shall be calculat ed from 1 Januar y of the year followi ng the date on which that press publication is published. 
Paragraph 1 shall not apply to press publications first published before 6 June 2019. 
5. Member State s shall provide that authors of works incor porat ed in a press publication receive an appropr iate share 
of the revenues that press publishers receive for the use of their press publications by information society service 
provid ers. 
Article 16 
Claims to fair compensation 
Member States may provide that where an author has transferr ed or licensed a right to a publisher , such a transfer or 
licence constitut es a suffi cient legal basis for the publisher to be entitled to a share of the compensation for the use of 
the work made under an excep tion or limitation to the transferr ed or licensed right. 
The first paragraph shall be without prejudice to existing and future arrangements in Member States concer ning public 
lending rights. 
CHAPTER 2 
Certain uses of protected content by online services 
Article 17 
Use of protected content by online content-shar ing service providers 
1. Member State s shall provide that an online content-shar ing service provider performs an act of communication to 
the public or an act of making available to the public for the purposes of this Directive when it gives the public access 
to copyright-prot ected works or other protect ed subject matt er uploaded by its users. 
An online content-shar ing service provid er shall theref ore obtain an author isation from the rightholders referred to in 
Article 3(1) and (2) of Directive 2001/29/EC, for instance by concluding a licensing agreement, in order to communicate 
to the public or make available to the public works or other subject matter . 
2. Member States shall provid e that, where an online cont ent-shar ing service provider obtains an author isation, for 
instance by concluding a licensing agreement, that author isation shall also cover acts carried out by users of the services 
falling within the scope of Article 3 of Directive 2001/29/EC when they are not acting on a commercial basis or where 
their activity does not generat e signif icant revenues. 
3. When an online cont ent-shar ing service provider performs an act of communication to the public or an act of 
making available to the public under the conditions laid down in this Directive, the limitation of liability established in 
Article 14(1) of Directive 2000/31/EC shall not apply to the situations covered by this Article. 17.5.2019 L 130/119 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(19)Directive (EU) 2017/1564 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2017 on certain permitted uses of certain 
works and other subject matter prot ected by copyright and related rights for the benefit of persons who are blind, visually impaired or 
other wise print-disabled and amending Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and relate d rights in 
the information society (OJ L 242, 20.9.2017, p. 6). The first subparagraph of this paragraph shall not affect the possible application of Article 14(1) of Directive 
2000/31/EC to those service provid ers for purposes falling outside the scope of this Directive. 
4. If no author isation is granted, online content-sha ring service providers shall be liable for unauthor ised acts of 
communication to the public, including making available to the public, of copyright-prot ected works and other subject 
matt er, unless the service provid ers demonstrate that they have: 
(a)  made best efforts to obtain an author isation, and 
(b)  made, in accordance with high industr y standards of profess ional diligence, best efforts to ensure the unavailabilit y 
of specifi c works and other subject matte r for which the rightholders have provided the service providers with the 
relevant and necessar y information; and in any event 
(c)  acted expeditiously , upon receiving a sufficiently substantiated notice from the rightholders, to disable access to, or 
to remove from their websites , the notified works or other subject matte r, and made best efforts to prevent their 
future uploads in accordance with point (b). 
5. In determining whether the service provider has complied with its oblig ations under paragraph 4, and in light of 
the principle of propor tionality , the followi ng elements, among others, shall be taken into account: 
(a)  the type, the audience and the size of the service and the type of works or other subject matter uploaded by the 
users of the service; and 
(b)  the availabi lity of suitable and effective means and their cost for service provid ers. 
6. Member States shall provide that, in respect of new online content-shar ing service provid ers the services of which 
have been available to the public in the Union for less than three years and which have an annual turnover below 
EUR 10 million, calculat ed in accordance with Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC (20), the conditions under 
the liability regime set out in paragraph 4 are limited to compliance with point (a) of paragraph 4 and to acting expedi ­
tiously , upon receiving a sufficiently substantiate d notice, to disable access to the notified works or other subject matt er 
or to remo ve those works or other subject matte r from their website s. 
Where the average number of monthly unique visitors of such service provid ers excee ds 5 million, calculated on the 
basis of the previous calendar year, they shall also demonstrate that they have made best efforts to prevent further 
uploads of the notified works and other subject matte r for which the rightholders have provid ed relevant and necessar y 
information. 
7. The cooperation between online content-shar ing service provid ers and rightholders shall not result in the 
prevention of the availability of works or other subject matte r uploaded by users, whic h do not infringe copyright and 
relat ed rights, including where such works or other subject matt er are covered by an excep tion or limitation. 
Member States shall ensure that users in each Member State are able to rely on any of the following existing excep tions 
or limitations when uploading and making available content generated by users on online cont ent-shar ing services: 
(a)  quotation, criticism, review ; 
(b)  use for the purpose of caricature, parody or pastic he. 
8. The application of this Article shall not lead to any general monitoring oblig ation. 
Member States shall provide that online conte nt-shar ing service providers provid e rightholders, at their request, with 
adequate information on the functioning of their practices with regard to the cooperation referred to in paragraph 4 
and, where licensing agreements are concluded between service providers and rightholders, information on the use of 
conte nt covered by the agreements. 
9. Member States shall provi de that online conte nt-shar ing service providers put in place an effective and expeditious 
compl aint and redress mechanis m that is available to users of their services in the event of dispute s over the disabling of 
access to, or the remo val of, works or other subject matte r uploaded by them. 17.5.2019 L 130/120 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(20)Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003 concer ning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterpr ises (OJ L 124, 
20.5.2003, p. 36). Where rightholders request to have access to their specifi c works or other subject matter disabled or to have those 
works or other subject matte r removed, they shall duly justify the reasons for their requests. Com plaints submitt ed 
under the mechanis m provid ed for in the first subparagraph shall be processed without undue dela y, and decisions to 
disable access to or remove uploaded cont ent shall be subject to human review . Member States shall also ensure that 
out-of-cour t redress mechanisms are available for the settlement of dispute s. Such mech anisms shall enable disputes to 
be settled impar tially and shall not depr ive the user of the legal protection afforded by national law, without prejudice to 
the rights of users to have recourse to efficient judicial remedies. In particular , Member States shall ensure that users 
have access to a cour t or another relevant judicial author ity to asser t the use of an exce ption or limitation to copyright 
and relat ed rights. 
This Directive shall in no way affect legitimate uses, such as uses under exce ptions or limitations provi ded for in Union 
law, and shall not lead to any identif ication of individual users nor to the processing of personal data, excep t in 
accordance with Directive 2002/58/EC and Regulation (EU) 2016/679. 
Online conte nt-shar ing service providers shall inform their users in their term s and conditions that they can use works 
and other subject matte r under excep tions or limitations to copyright and relat ed rights provided for in Union law. 
10. As of 6 June 2019 the Commission, in cooperation with the Member State s, shall organise stakeholder dialogues 
to discuss best practices for cooperation between online cont ent-shar ing service providers and rightholders. The 
Commission shall, in consultation with online conte nt-shar ing service providers, rightholders, users' organisations and 
other relevant stake holders, and taking into account the results of the stakeholder dialogues, issue guidance on the 
application of this Article, in particular regar ding the cooperation refer red to in paragraph 4. When discussing best 
practices, special account shall be taken, among other things, of the need to balance fundamental rights and of the use 
of excep tions and limitations. For the purpose of the stak eholder dialogues, users' organisations shall have access to 
adequate information from online conte nt-shar ing service provid ers on the functioning of their practices with regar d to 
paragraph 4. 
CHAPTER 3 
Fair remuner ation in exploitation contr acts of authors and performers 
Article 18 
Principle of appropr iate and propor tionate remuneration 
1. Member States shall ensure that where authors and performe rs license or transfe r their excl usive rights for the 
exploitation of their works or other subject matte r, they are entitled to receive appropr iate and propor tionate 
remuneration. 
2. In the implementation in national law of the principle set out in paragraph 1, Member States shall be free to use 
differ ent mechanis ms and take into account the principle of contractual freedom and a fair balance of rights and 
inter ests. 
Article 19 
Transparency obligation 
1. Member States shall ensure that authors and performe rs receive on a regular basis, at least once a year, and taking 
into account the specifi cities of each sector , up to date , relevant and compreh ensive information on the exploitation of 
their works and performa nces from the parties to whom they have licensed or transferred their rights, or their 
successors in title, in particular as regar ds modes of exploitation, all revenues generated and remuneration due. 
2. Member States shall ensure that, where the rights refer red to in paragraph 1 have subsequently been licensed, 
authors and performe rs or their representatives shall, at their request, receive from sub-licensees additional information, 
in the event that their first contractual count erpart does not hold all the information that would be necessar y for the 
purposes of paragraph 1. 
Where that additional information is requeste d, the first contractual count erpart of authors and perf ormers shall provi de 
information on the identity of those sub-licensees. 17.5.2019 L 130/121 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     Member States may provide that any request to sub-licensees pursuant to the first subparagraph is made directly or 
indirectly through the contractual count erpart of the author or the perf ormer . 
3. The oblig ation set out in paragraph 1 shall be propor tionate and effective in ensur ing a high level of transparency 
in ever y sector . Member States may provide that in duly justified cases where the administrative burden resulting from 
the oblig ation set out in paragraph 1 would become dispropor tionate in the light of the revenues generated by the 
exploitation of the work or perf ormance, the obligation is limited to the types and level of information that can 
reasonably be expecte d in such cases. 
4. Member States may decide that the oblig ation set out in paragraph 1 of this Article does not apply when the 
contr ibution of the author or performe r is not significant having regar d to the overall work or perf ormance, unless the 
author or performe r demonstrate s that he or she requires the information for the exercise of his or her rights under 
Article 20(1) and requests the information for that purpose. 
5. Member State s may provid e that, for agreements subject to or based on collective bargaini ng agreements, the 
transparency rules of the relevant collective barga ining agreement are applicable, on condition that those rules meet the 
criteria provi ded for in paragraphs 1 to 4. 
6. Where Article 18 of Directive 2014/26/EU is applicable, the obligation laid down in paragraph 1 of this Article 
shall not apply in respect of agreements concluded by entities defined in Article 3(a) and (b) of that Directive or by 
other entities subject to the national rules imple menting that Directive. 
Article 20 
Contract adjustme nt mechanism 
1. Member States shall ensure that, in the absence of an applicable collective bargaining agreement providing for 
a mecha nism comparable to that set out in this Article, authors and perf ormers or their representatives are entitled to 
claim additional, appropr iate and fair remuneration from the party with whom they entered into a contract for the 
exploitation of their rights, or from the successors in title of such party, when the remuneration originally agreed turns 
out to be dispropor tionate ly low compare d to all the subsequent relevant revenues derived from the exploitation of the 
works or performa nces. 
2. Paragraph 1 of this Article shall not apply to agreements concluded by entities defined in Article 3(a) and (b) of 
Directive 2014/26/EU or by other entities that are already subject to the national rules imple menting that Directive. 
Article 21 
Alter nativ e dispute resolution procedure 
Member States shall provid e that disputes concer ning the transparency oblig ation under Article 19 and the contract 
adjustment mechanism under Article 20 may be submitted to a voluntar y, altern ative dispute resolution procedure. 
Member States shall ensure that representative organisations of authors and performe rs may initiate such procedures at 
the specifi c request of one or more authors or performe rs. 
Article 22 
Right of revocation 
1. Member States shall ensure that where an author or a performe r has licensed or transferr ed his or her rights in 
a work or other prot ected subject matt er on an exclusive basis, the author or performer may revok e in whole or in part 
the licence or the transfer of rights where there is a lack of exploitation of that work or other protect ed subject matt er. 
2. Specific provi sions for the revocation mec hanism provided for in paragraph 1 may be provid ed for in national law, 
taking into account the follo wing: 
(a)  the specifi cities of the diffe rent sector s and the diffe rent types of works and performa nces; and 
(b)  where a work or other subject matt er contains the contr ibution of more than one author or perf ormer , the relative 
imp ortance of the individual contr ibutions, and the legitimat e interests of all authors and performe rs affect ed by the 
application of the revocati on mec hanism by an individual author or performe r. 17.5.2019 L 130/122 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     Member States may excl ude works or other subject matt er from the application of the revocati on mec hanism if such 
works or other subject matt er usually contain contr ibutions of a plurality of authors or performe rs. 
Member States may provide that the revocati on mechanism can only apply within a specific time frame, where such 
restr iction is duly justif ied by the specificities of the sector or of the type of work or other subject matt er concer ned. 
Member States may provid e that authors or performers can choose to term inate the excl usivity of the contract instea d of 
revoki ng the licence or transfer of the rights. 
3. Member States shall provi de that the revocati on provid ed for in paragraph 1 may only be exer cised after 
a reasonable time followi ng the conclusion of the licence or the transfer of the rights. The author or performe r shall 
notify the person to whom the rights have been licensed or transferred and set an appropr iate deadline by whic h the 
exploitation of the licensed or transfe rred rights is to take place. After the expir y of that deadline, the author or 
performer may choose to term inate the excl usivity of the contract instead of revoking the licence or the transfer of the 
rights. 
4. Paragraph 1 shall not apply if the lack of exploitation is predominantly due to circumstances that the author or 
the performe r can reasonably be expected to remedy . 
5. Member States may provide that any contractual provision derogating from the revocation mechanism provid ed 
for in paragraph 1 is enforceable only if it is based on a collective bargai ning agreement. 
Article 23 
Common provisions 
1. Member States shall ensure that any contractual provis ion that prevents compl iance with Articles 19, 20 and 21 
shall be unenf orceable in relation to authors and performers. 
2. Members States shall provid e that Articles 18 to 22 of this Directive do not apply to authors of a comput er 
program within the meaning of Article 2 of Directive 2009/24/EC. 
TITLE V 
FINAL PROVISIONS 
Article 24 
Amendments to Directiv es 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC 
1. Directive 96/9/EC is amended as follo ws: 
(a)  In Article 6(2), point (b) is replaced by the followi ng: 
‘(b)  where there is use for the sole purpose of illustration for teaching or scientifi c research, as long as the source is 
indicate d and to the extent justif ied by the non-commercial purpose to be achieved, without prejudice to the 
excep tions and limitations provid ed for in Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council (*);  
(*)Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 Apr il 2019 on copyright and 
related rights in the Digital Sing le Marke t and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC (OJ L 130, 
17.5.2019, p. 92).’. 
(b)  In Article 9, point (b) is replaced by the followi ng: 
‘(b)  in the case of extraction for the purposes of illustration for teaching or scientific researc h, as long as the source 
is indicated and to the extent justified by the non-commercial purpose to be achieved, without prejudice to the 
excep tions and limitations provid ed for in Directive (EU) 2019/790;’. 17.5.2019 L 130/123 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     2. Directive 2001/29/EC is amended as follows: 
(a)  In Article 5(2), point (c) is replaced by the followi ng: 
‘(c)  in respect of specific acts of reproduction made by publicly accessible librar ies, educational establishments or 
museums, or by archiv es, whic h are not for direct or indirect economic or commercial advantage, without 
prejudice to the excep tions and limitations provided for in Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council (*);  
(*)Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 Apr il 2019 on copyright and 
related rights in the Digital Sing le Marke t and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC (OJ L 130, 
17.5.2019, p. 92).’. 
(b)  In Article 5(3), point (a) is replaced by the followi ng: 
‘(a)  use for the sole purpose of illustration for teac hing or scientifi c research, as long as the source, including the 
author's name, is indicated , unless this turns out to be impossible and to the extent justif ied by the 
non-commercial purpose to be achi eved, without prejudice to the excep tions and limitations provid ed for in 
Directive (EU) 2019/790;’. 
(c)  In Article 12(4), the follo wing points are added: 
‘(e)  to examine the impact of the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/790 on the functioning of the intern al 
market and to highlight any transposition difficulties; 
(f)  to facilitate the exchange of information on relevant developments in legislation and case law as well as on the 
practical application of the measures taken by Member States to implement Directive (EU) 2019/790; 
(g)  to discuss any other questions arising from the application of Directive (EU) 2019/790.’. 
Article 25 
Relationship with exceptions and limita tions provided for in other directiv es 
Member State s may adopt or maintain in force broader provisions, compati ble with the excep tions and limitations 
provid ed for in Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC, for uses or fields covered by the excep tions or limitations provid ed 
for in this Directive. 
Article 26 
Application in time 
1. This Directive shall apply in respect of all works and other subject matt er that are prote cted by national law in the 
field of copyright on or after 7 June 2021. 
2. This Directive shall apply without prejudice to any acts concluded and rights acquired before 7 June 2021. 
Article 27 
Transitional provision 
Agreements for the licence or transfer of rights of authors and performers shall be subject to the transparency oblig ation 
set out in Article 19 as from 7 June 2022. 
Article 28 
Protection of personal data 
The processing of personal data carried out within the framew ork of this Directive shall be carried out in compl iance 
with Directive 2002/58/EC and Regulation (EU) 2016/679. 17.5.2019 L 130/124 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     Article 29 
Transposition 
1. Member State s shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provis ions necessar y to comply with 
this Directive by 7 June 2021. They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof. 
When Member States adop t those provi sions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompan ied by such 
a referen ce on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by 
Member States. 
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of national law whic h they 
adopt in the field covered by this Directive. 
Article 30 
Review 
1. No sooner than 7 June 2026, the Commission shall carry out a review of this Directive and present a repor t on 
the main findings to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committ ee. 
The Commission shall, by 7 June 2024, assess the impact of the specif ic liability regime set out in Article 17 applicable 
to online conte nt-shar ing service providers that have an annual turnover of less than EUR 10 million and the services of 
whic h have been available to the public in the Union for less than three years under Article 17(6) and, if appropr iate, 
take action in accordance with the conclusions of its assessment. 
2. Member States shall provide the Commission with the necessar y information for the preparation of the repor t 
referred to in paragraph 1. 
Article 31 
Entr y into force 
This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day follo wing that of its publication in the Official Journal of the 
European Union. 
Article 32 
Addre ssees 
This Directive is addressed to the Member States. 
Done at Strasbourg, 17 Apr il 2019. 
For the European Parliament 
The President 
A. TAJANI  For the Council 
The President 
G. CIAMBA   17.5.2019 L 130/125 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN